Adipurush MOVIE DETAIL

In the opening moments of ‘Adipurush’, we see Raavan throwing his head back, and laughing. He is stomping through the snow, one shoulder rising, the other dipping, just like a cartoon character, and going ha-ha-ha-ha. That laugh is called the villain’s ‘thahaka’ in Bollywood: every single significant baddie from KN Singh to Amrish Puri has given us that laugh. You see Saif Ali Khan’s Lankesh tossing that one off, and it is an indication that Om Raut’s version of ‘Ramayana’ will be a series of clunky computer graphics, bathed in Bollywoodese. And that’s exactly what this nearly three-hour long film is.

When the film opens, Ram, Sita and Lakshman are already in the forest, the Maryada Purushottam having accepted his ‘vanvas’. In short order, we get the Sooparnakha tale (Raavan’s sister whose nose is slashed by Lakshman when she comes on to him strongly), the Shabari story (an old woman whose ‘jhoothe ber’ are eaten by Ram), and the chapter of the Lakshman rekha which Sita steps over, and is promptly kidnapped by Raavan. The rest is an endless barrage of the rescue mission, the meeting with Pavan Putra Hanuman, the creation of the Ram Setu, the formation of the 'vaanar sena', and the battle with Raavan and his cohorts, ending, of course, in the victory of good over evil.

This version of the Ramayan is not interested in connecting with the feeling of genuine religiosity that any reading of the ‘granth’ arouses, whether it is the most popular Tulsidas version or the Valmiki version. This is a beloved epic turned into an actioner, reminding you of a little of ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ (the poor ‘rakshashas’ guarding Lankapati’s castle look like orcs and trolls, and the building itself a gargoyle with zero provenance), a bit of ‘Game Of Thrones’, and countless films which have computer generated armies going at each other.