Amitabh Bachchan lauds grandson Agastya Nanda’s ‘mature’ act in ‘flawless’ Ikkis, keeps mum on Dharmendra’s final performance

Amitabh Bachchan praises Agastya Nanda in Ikkis

Amitabh Bachchan wrote a heartfelt note for his grandson Agastya Nanda, praising his performance in his upcoming film Ikkis and calling the Sriram Raghavan directorial “flawless”. In Ikkis, the 24-year-old actor plays the role of Param Vir Chakra award winner Arun Khetarpal, who was martyred at the age of 21 during the Battle of Basantar in the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

Bachchan, who attended the screening of the film in Mumbai on Monday, shared a note on his personal blog in which he recalled holding Agastya in his arms and praised Nanda’s maturity and unfiltered honesty in Ikkis. “When you witness your grandchild succeeding at IKKIS… his mother Shweta going through her final labor pains, his birth, the time she held him only a few hours later and debating whether his eyes were blue… the time he got a little older and held him in my arms and played with my beard… his growth… his final personal decision to become an actor, and the time he was rushed to Breach Candy Hospital to see him in the frame tonight, unable to take my eyes off every time… it fills the frames of the film.”

“His maturity, his unfiltered honesty in his performance, his presence that justifies the character he is playing… no excitement or froth, just Arun Khetarpal soldier fighting with his courage as the 21-year-old defending the nation during the 1971 Indo-Pak war… nothing excessive, just perfection in every shot,” added Big B. “When you are in the frame you just watch it and it is not a grandfather talking, it is a hardcore cinema goer… And its presentation, writing, directing is a flawless film… And when it is over “Eyes filled with tears of joy and pride… unable to speak,” he concluded.

But what caught everyone’s attention was that Bachchan did not mention anything about Dharmendra’s final performance in his review of Ikkis. Amitabh’s Sholay co-star and veteran superstar Dharmendra passed away on November 24. In his latest film Ikkis, he will be seen as Brigadier ML Khetarpal, Arun Khetarpal’s father who is also serving in the Indian Army.

Produced under Dinesh Vijan’s production company Maddock Films, Ikkis will release in theaters on January 1, 2026. This also marks the acting debut of Akshay Kumar’s niece Simar Bhatia. Before Ikkis, Agastya Nanda made his acting debut in 2023 with Zoya Akhtar’s film The Archies. The Netflix version also featured Suhana Khan and Khushi Kapoor in their first roles.

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