Adipurush makers to ‘revise’ dialogues after backlash

The backlash prompted Muntashir, a three-time national award winner, to release a statement that he penned more than 4,000 lines in Adipurush but some sentiments got hurt “because of five lines”. “I can give countless arguments in favour of my dialogues, but this will not reduce your pain. I and the producer-director of the film have decided that some of the dialogues which are hurting you, we’ll revise them. They’ll be added to the film this week. May Shri Ram bless you all,” he said.

Directed by Om Raut and starring Prabhas as Raghav (Ram), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (Sita) and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Raavan), Adipurush released to an impressive Rs 140-crore worldwide opening on Friday. The Rs 600-crore budget blockbuster bagged Rs 65 crore in earnings on Saturday, with actors such as Ranbir Kapoor, Ram Charan and Ananya Birla each buying 10,000 tickets.

A note shared by T-Series said the team has decided to make “alterations” so that it resonates with the “core essence” of the film. The Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Aam Aadmi Party also lashed out at the film for “hurting Indian sensibilities”. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said on Saturday that the Congress government may consider banning it if people demand so. Union Minister Renuka Singh on Sunday said she is hopeful that the Chhattisgarh CM will ban the movie in the state.

Interestingly, the film’s credit roll begins by thanking Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, apart from Maharashtra CM and BJP ally Eknath Shinde.

Veteran actor Arun Govil, who famously played Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s classic TV adaptation of Ramayana, was among those who criticised Adipurush for its “colloquialisms”.

In a YouTube video, actor Mukesh Khanna, known for playing Shaktimaan, said history will never forgive the makers of Adipurush for writing such “terrible dialogues” and for “humiliating” Lord Hanuman.

“There is no bigger disrespect to Ramayana than Adipurush. Make a fictional film if you had to take cinematic liberties. You have played with the image of Gods and hence Adipurush is a ‘bhayanak mazaak’ (a dangerous joke),” Khanna said.

Adipurush director Raut rose to nationwide fame in 2020 when he directed Ajay Devgn-starrer historical drama Tanhaji. Earlier, he produced the 2010 political thriller City of Gold and Haunted-3D the following year.

Muntashir, in a career spanning almost two decades, has penned lyrics for several film songs in films like Akshay Kumar’s Kesari, SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali (Hindi) franchise, Hrithik Roshan-starrer Vikram Vedha among others. He ventured into dialogue writing with Baahubali 2, which released in 2017. Adipurush has become his biggest dialogue writing credit so far.