God of War 2018's boss fights were so good that they've been recreated almost one-for-one in a new Netflix Bollywood movie that feels like a tribute to Kratos as well as Mortal Kombat fatalities

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Mahavatar Narsimha makes its inspirations pretty clear

God of War
(Image credit: Sony Santa Monica)

Seven years after it took home Game of the Year at the 2018 Game Awards, God of War is still collecting accolades. The one I'm telling you about today, admittedly, isn't as formal or official as the game's inclusion on Rolling Stone's 2025 list of the best games of all time, but it is far more entertaining.

The honor I'm speaking of is God of War's apparent influence on the new Bollywood Netflix film, Mahavatar Narsimha. Clips from a battle scene in the movie are circulating around social media for the simple fact that some of the animations appear to be one-to-one replications of animations from God of War's epic battle scenes.

Anyway, in case it wasn't obvious, the scenes in the above video are chopped up and spliced together to put the God of War resemblances on clear display, but there's no denying the similarities.

However, when I watched the full battle scene on Netflix, which I strongly suggest you do, I saw clear inspirations from a bunch of different iconic media. I only watched the scene once, but I immediately saw clear homages to Mortal Kombat's brutal fatalities, old Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies, and even the Marvel Cinematic Universe's signature large-scale battles. It's really quite the spectacle, and frankly, sick as hell.

It's also very much worth noting that this sort of thing isn't uncommon at all in Bollywood movies, which are often heavily inspired, and in some cases frame-by-frame, by Hollywood movies. What's unique in this case are the apparent tributes to popular video games like God of War, Mortal Kombat, and Lord knows what else is hidden in there that I missed. Cool stuff!

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Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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