During a podcast last month, talking about one of the big pan-India releases this year, Kalki 2898 AD, directed by Nag Ashwin, Arshad confessed that he didn’t like the film much. He had said, “Maine Kalki dekhi, mujhe toh nahi acchi lagi. Amit ji was unbelievable.”

He then added, “Prabhas, I am really sad, why was he… He was like a joker. Why?” His comment didn’t go down well with Prabhas’ fans as well as others in the Telugu film fraternity, including actors Nani, Sudheer Babu and director Ajay Bhupathi.

Breaking his silence on the online backlash he faced following his comments, Arshad, at an event on Saturday, clarified that his remarks were about the character and not the person.

He said, “Everybody has their own point of view, and people like to interpret noise. I spoke about the character, not the person. He is a brilliant actor, and he has proved himself again and again, and we know about it. And, when we give a bad character to a good actor, it’s heartbreaking for the audience.”

Arshad further added that he is happy that industries of different languages are coming together to make movies.

“The blurring of language barriers should have happened a long time ago. I really feel enraged when someone uses terms like Bollywood or Tollywood. I have told people many times that this is the Indian film industry. We all are in it together.”

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Arshad Warsi has finally reacted to the controversy he courted recently when he called actor Prabhas’ character in Kalki 2898 AD “a joker”. The actor, while attending an event, was asked about ‘something he said recently about an actor that didn’t go well’.

Warsi responded: “Everybody has their own point of view and people like to [create a little bit of] noise. I spoke about the character, not the person. He (Prabhas) is a brilliant actor and he has proved himself again and again, and we know about it. And, when we give a bad character to a good actor, it’s heartbreaking for the audience.”

Last month, Warsi expressed his disappointment with Prabhas’ character Bhairava in Kalki 2898 AD while speaking on a podcast. He said: “Prabhas, I am really sad, why was he… he was like a joker.”

What followed was sharp reactions from not just Prabhas’ fans, but even actors. Actor Sudheer Babu wrote on X: “It’s okay to criticize constructively but it’s never okay to bad-mouth. Never expected the absence of professionalism from Arshad Warsi. Prabhas’ stature is too big for comments coming from small minds (sic).”

Actor Nani said in a press conference that this must be the “most publicity” Warsi had got in his life. He later regretted his comments, saying, “Definitely, my choice of words was also poor. The biggest thing that you can do is accept your regret. But what I am also saying is that it sounds so bad when it’s translated.”