Vivek Agnihotri reflects on Adipurush failure, says ‘people are not idiots’ to accept anyone as ‘God’ on-screen

Vivek Agnihotri recently reflected on the failure of Om Raut's Adipurush. The film, starring Prabhas and Kriti Sanon, was criticised for its dialogues and VFX.

Vivek Agnihotri commented on the box office failure of Adipurush. (Photo: Vivek Agnihotri/Instagram, Prabhas/Instagram)

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Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, popular for his controversial drama, The Kashmir Files, recently shared his two cents on the failure of Om Raut’s mythological drama, Adipurush. The film, starring Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan in pivotal roles, was heavily trolled for its dialogues and VFX. It failed at the box office as it could only earn Rs 135.04 cr after being made on a budget of around Rs 500 cr.

Agnihotri, while speaking to The Times of India, said if one would make a movie just because something is in the trend but doesn’t believe in it entirely, there is no way that the movie will find an audience. He said, “When you pick up stories of faith, either you yourself should have 100% conviction or you should be well versed in the subject like a historian, but unfortunately no one does that in India.”

Adipurush was a retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana, where Prabhas played Lord Ram, Kriti Sanon was Sita and Saif Ali Khan essayed Ravana. The film was equally disliked by the audience and film critics. The Indian Express’ Shubhra Gupta wrote in her review, “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.”

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Also read | Nitesh Tiwari says he is hurt by people questioning the intent behind Bawaal, explains film’s controversial Auschwitz scenes

Even after the debacle of Adipurush, Bawaal director Nitesh Tiwari is confident about his screen adaptation of the Hindu epic. He would most likely cast Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor in the lead roles of Sita and Ram in his film.

Without mentioning names, Agnihotri also took a dig at filmmakers likely to cast “stars” in a film based on Ramayan and Mahabharat, and claimed they “will never be able to complete it.” The filmmaker added that “people are not idiots” to accept any actor in the role of God on-screen.

Also read | Adipurush failure: It’s not about dialogues – the film is rooted in the debased politics of our time

Vivek Agnihotri recently released the trailer of his upcoming series The Kashmir Files Unreported and said the show consists of the research, archival footage and interviews he did for his 2022 movie The Kashmir Files.

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