With all the historical fantasy flicks making the big screen, audiences have been accustomed to this new genre of Indian cinema. This trend began as early as 2008 with Jodhaa Akbar. The movie starred Hrithik Roshan as the legendary Mughal ruler Akbar and Aishwarya Rai as his queen Jodhaa Bai. Some of the more recent movies of this genre include Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. However, the new movie Adipurush comes closer to the likes of Baahubali. The movie Adipurush is based on the most famous Hindu epic – The Ramayana. It is essentially a retelling of the story of Ram, Sita, Hanuman, and Ravan. But is this movie a blatant retelling of the timeless epic? Or are there any new interesting reveals? Let’s find out.

The Cast of Adipurush

After the phenomenal success of Baahubali, the protagonist actor Prabhas is often considered the best choice for this genre of movies due to his rugged good looks. In Adipurush, Prabhas plays the role of Sri Ram. While Prabhas is a highly talented Telugu actor, his rugged good looks give off more of an anti-hero vibe. The character of Sri Ram on the other hand is meant to be the purest embodiment of heroism with not a hint of negative emotions in him. Hence, could be problematic for Prabhas in fulfilling the role of Sri Ram.

The character of Ravan is played by Saif Ali Khan. Netizens and Twitterati cannot stop trolling the veteran actor for doing this. The character of Ravan has been portrayed more like a Mughal tyrant rather than a self-righteous Mahadev-worshipping delusional King of demons. On the other hand, Kriti Sanon is cast as Sita while Lord Hanuman is played by Devdatta Nage and Laxman is played by Sunny Singh.

The Plot of Adipurush

The plot of this movie is most likely to follow the canon of the Ramayana epic. The original story tells the tale of a warrior prince whose quest is to rescue his beloved Queen from a demon king. The entire epic spans several chapters of Sri Ram’s life. However, the director Om Raut has chosen only those sections that depict the epic battle between good and evil. With heavy investments into computer graphics and visual effects, fans were expecting a visual masterpiece. The trailer shows some familiar scenes of the battle wherein Sri Ram and his army of apes go against the demon army of King Ravan. However, netizens have complained that the visual effects are highly disappointing.

The Controversy

Netizens have claimed that the Islamisation of Ravan is a cruel tactic deployed by right wing supporters. However, this is only part of the larger controversy. The biggest controversy surrounding this movie is its cartoonish VFX and extremely poor quality CGI. After the release of Brahmastra, the bar for VFX and CGI has been set extremely high in Bollywood. This is the main reason the poor quality VFX of Adipurush did not sit well with the Indian audience.

Takeaway

Adipurush releases on 13th January 2023 in theatres across India. With less then 4 months left, the movie has already garnered massive negative publicity. The poor quality of VFX is a missed opportunity on the part of director Om Raut. After seeing Brahmastra break box office records, the team of Adipurush should have realised the power of CGI and VFX. We can only hope they incorporate fans’ feedback and improve it before the official release.