Dhairya Gupta, a movie buff from Lucknow, says that the movie Adipurush makes a mockery of not only our sacred epic the Ramayana but also revered figures in Hinduism. His views
There is already an outrage over the dialogues and depiction of characters in Adipurush in the mainstream and social media. There is also a demand to ban the movie for wrongful depiction of the Hindu epic Ramayana and ‘twisting the narrative’. I feel the demand is justified as the use of sadak-chhap (pedestrian) language in many scenes and the creative liberty in portrayal of characters are overbearing.
Take for example the by-now well-known dialogue of Lord Hanuman, whose tail has been set afire with an oil-soaked cloth: ‘Kapda Tere Baap Ka, Tel Tere Baap Ka… Jalegi Bhi Tere Baap Ki’. Such foul language coming from one of the most revered figures in Hinduism! Isn’t Manoj Muntashir, ashamed of stooping so low? Worse, all this was done by making tall claims of being inspired by Valmiki Ramayana, and making a movie for the younger generations to know about our culture.
Let me begin with the portrayal of the character of Rawana, which is perhaps the biggest distortion in Adipurush. For all we know, Rawana was a Brahmin and a Prakaand Pundit (a highly learned man) according to the original epic by Valmiki. However, the way Rawana has been projected in the movie, he comes as a cross between a monster and a clown.
In fact, Rawana (Saif Ali Khan) and Meghnaad (Vatsal Seth) look more like characters stolen from Avengers of Marvel series or from a graphic video game. Some of the most offensive scenes show Rawana feeding flesh to a demon; another one shows him wearing a metal facemask like a welding mechanic and fixing his armour; in another scene he is sleeping with snakes and seemingly enjoying it; in yet another, his ten heads are shown floating around him like a juggler’s trick. How would one ever explain such theatrics to one’s children who watched the movie?
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I would never ever refer to the film to people who are planning to see the movie with their younger children who are still in the learning phase. It’s better to sit with them and watch the original Ramayan of Ramanand Sagar relayed on Doordarshan or the Japanese animation movie The Legend of Prince Rama which were way better than Adipurush.
And to make things shamelessly worse, Muntashir is claiming that there has been a kind of diversion, a division in the dialogues and they have been made simple as there are multiple characters in the film and all of them can’t speak the language. To my surprise, in a TV interview, he is also substantiating his `work’ by asking for artist freedom like Tulsidas!
The film is a stark example of a typical bankruptcy of brains and morals and proves that by merely spending crores of rupees (₹600 crore to be precise), you cannot produce quality content. Also, if we talk about the much hyped VFX, even a bunch of passionate college goers or internet buffs could create a more sensible experience.
Perhaps the only two characters who somehow remain close to the original epic depiction are of Ram and Sita, played gracefully by Prabhas and Kriti Sanon. Mercifully, these two characters were spared from the film-makers creative liberty. But, they still are unable to save this trash of cinematic work
My two-bit to the association of film broadcasters: they should have at least watched this movie (as it is related a religious theme) before releasing it in theatres as it could not only have saved peoples’ money but also saved them from incurring loses which this movie is definitely going to give them
As told to Rajat Rai
