The day has finally come for the long-awaited “Adipurush” to hit nationwide theatres finally. This mythological film retells the Hindu epic, Ramayan, directed by Om Raut. Prabhas plays Lord Ram, Kriti Sanon stars as Sita, Sunny Singh is Lakshman, and Saif Ali Khan plays the role of Ravan in the film.
‘Till there is Shri Ram’s name in this world, Lord Hanuman will be here to protect his Bhakts and to save Dharam’. To respect and honour Shri Ram’s greatest Bhakt and devotee Lord Hanuman, the makers have decided to leave one seat in each theatre ‘reserved’ for Hanumanji. Made on a reported budget of Rs 600 crores, Adipurush is the most expensive Indian film ever made.
Over 4.7 lakh tickets have already been sold for the first weekend shows. According to multiple film trade analysts, Adipurush will easily cross the Rs 50 crore mark on the first day of its release.
“It should be released across 4000 screens. There are shows as early as five o’clock in the morning in certain cities. That means that the dynamics of the box office will be very strongly at play. I think Adipurush, for sure, will take an opening in the range of Rs 40-50 crore across all the languages, which will definitely put the film in the list of the top ten highest grosser, all languages combined,” Girish Johar claims.
Although it failed to make a lasting impression on the audience, it did create a furore over the quality of written dialogues and the kind of cinematography and costume design. It is hard to find a redeeming quality in the movie about one of Hinduism’s greatest epics since it felt like a modern retailing attempt that bombed miserably. We must understand that people are now more impressed by authenticity rather than duplicity, and everything Western is no longer considered ‘cool’.
Had the director made an effort to actually understand the epic and depicted it in a way that was characteristic of the time, the movie would have fared well. It’s still great to see our mythological epics get the due recognition they deserve.
Indian Express has an interesting review of Adipurush that talks about its many shortcomings.