Controversial issues surrounding Adipurush

Adipurush, a 2023 film directed by Om Raut, has been the subject of various controversial issues since its conception. In particular, the film has been criticised from a broad spectrum of politicians and religious organizations and other critics for its dialogues deemed indecent and objectionable, specially in the Lanka Dahan sequence. The film also faced controversies on inaccurate recreation of Ramayana and received flak when the teasers were released, citing its poor VFX, the costumes and look of Hindu deities as seen in the trailer, Hanuman is shown wearing leather, whereas the description (in the scriptures) of the deity's costume were different. The teasers were also termed as "Islamisation of the epic". The Allahabad Highcourt noted that the sentiments of the people must have gotten hurt by the way the movie portrayed the religious characters of Ramayana. The The Court added that in recent times it has come across several movies wherein the Hindu god and goddess were shown funnily. The court further added the matters and wondered as to what went through 'Adipurush' filmmakers' minds as they came up with this movie. The Hindu organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad and political parties such as Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal had demanded a ban and an apology from makers, stating for its "cheap and superficial dialogues" and said that this was part of an "agenda". Writer Manoj Muntashir had defended this film stating "It is not an error. A very meticulous thought process that has gone into writing the dialogues for Bajrangbali. We have made it simple because we have to understand one thing (that) if there are multiple characters in a film, all of them can't speak the language. There has to be a kind of diversion, a division".

Timeline of the controversies

Reactions after the teaser release

Right after the teaser released in October 2022, the makers were criticized for its poor VFX, provided Saif Ali Khan's look as Raavana with a beard made social media users question "if he is playing "Raavan", "Babar" or "Alauddin Khilji"" in the film. BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash has criticized filmmaker Om Raut for 'misrepresentation' of Ramayana, depicting Raaavana with "blue eye makeup and is wearing leather jackets". BJP Home Minister Narottam Mishra criticized the teaser with comments on Hanuman's look in the film and stated to write a letter to Om Raut to remove all such scenes from the film. If not removed, he will consider legal action. Actor Arun Mandola also stated his views as director (Raut) failed to understand the Indian audience and accused the makers for copying scenes from Game Of Thrones’, ‘Planets Of Apes’, ‘Jungle Book'. Prem Sagar, son of director Ramanand Sagar also criticised the teaser, stating if the project was offered, he would've rejected due to "his ‘upbringing and culture’". He further added, “How can you stop anyone from creating anything?”. Actress Dipika Chikhlia, who portrayed Sita on Doordarshan's Ramayan also criticised the teaser, stating she did not approve the VFX and there has been altercations to the epic. Actor Sunil Lahri, who played Lakshman in Ramanand Sagar's television adaptation of the Ramayana, commented in lieu of the VFX and its depiction, that nonsense in the name of religion will never be tolerated.

Amidst of the controversy, director Om Raut defended the teaser and kept his views that he was unhappy with the reactions from audiences and other celebrities for criticising the teasers and story and stated its not made for cellphones. Actress Kriti Sanon also defended the teasers, stating, "that the film is not just about the teaser but there is a lot more to it." After the criticism, the makers asked for some time for improving the VFX and its quality, which may cost an additional Rs 100 crore, as per reports.

Reactions on the film's posters

Aftermath of the teaser controversy, it was stated that the film's poster was also copied from an animation firm Vaanar Sena Studios and they claimed that they were not given any credit for the same. Also the studio claimed that the poster of Adipurush was a direct rip-off of their animated film "Lord Shiva".

In March 2023, a new poster was released, which created another controversy. The new poster was criticised for looking like an "animated film". Another poster was also criticised for hurting the religious sentiments as according to the Ramcharitmanas, all the characters of the Ramayana wear a sacred thread called Janeu, which is worn by those who follow the Hindu religion, however in the posters it was not wore by the characters played by Prabhas, Sunny Singh and Devdatta Nage.

Kiss on-the-cheek at Tirupati Temple

The makers of Adipurush had organized a grand pre-release event in Tirupati on June 6. However, a controversy was sparked when Om Raut and Kriti Sanon were spotted at the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirupati for ‘darshan’. A video went viral which in the director was seen giving a peck on the actress's cheek as a goodbye kiss.

The head priest at Telangana's Chilkur Balaji Temple described the act as 'condemnable'. He said, "This is a condemnable act. Even a husband and wife do not go there (temple) together. You can go to a hotel room and do it. Your behaviour is like insulting Ramayan and Goddess Sita".

Dipika Chikhlia, who played the character of Sita, in Ramanand Sagar's 1987 television series Ramayan, also expressed her disapproval over the incident. During an interview with Aaj Tak, she said, "I believe this is a significant problem with actors nowadays, as they neither enter the character nor understand its emotions. For them, the Ramayana must have been just a film. Perhaps they haven't connected with it on a spiritual level.” She said, “When we were in character on the set, people would come and touch our feet. That was a different time. People did not think of us as actors, they thought of us as gods. We couldn’t even hug anyone, kissing is beyond the question. After the release of Adipurush, the actors will get busy with their next project and will forget about their characters but this never happened with us,” she said.

However, others defended the act. Writing for iDiva, author Tanvi Nalin Shrivastava noted, "Whenever we greet or bid goodbye to a loved one or a friend, we usually hug or kiss them. So what's the big deal about a friendly kiss? If Kriti Sanon has no problem with this consensual gesture, then why do people need to make a big deal out of a thing as basic as a greeting?"

She added, "As to the debate about it happening at a temple, it's not like the incident happened inside the temple while offering prayer or disturbed anyone. So how can a normal kiss on the cheek become this problematic?"

Old tweet

Amid the negative response to his film Adipurush, his old tweet from 2015 got viral on social media.

In the tweet, he wrote, "Was God Hanuman Deaf? People around my building think so. Playing loud music like 'really loud' on Hanuman Jayanti. Plus all irrelevant songs". He reportedly deleted the tweet after it went viral.

Dialogues of Adipurush

Manoj Muntashir wrote the dialogues of Om Raut's film Adipurush. The dialogues of the film were criticised for being too flippant or unserious, and containing modern-day slang and lingo in a setting from centuries ago. Lines like ‘jalegi tere baap ki’, ‘teri bua ka bageecha hai kya’, and ‘Lanka laga denge’ being uttered by gods did not go down well with a large section of the viewers.

Prem Sagar, son of director Ramanand Sagar, said, “It might be a misjudgement that the younger generation would like it. But you can't do this with the audience. Don't say it is based on Valmiki Ramayan, give it any other name. Make it a fantasy film. But if you're making Ramayan then you cannot hurt the sentiments. People watch this with devotion". His brother, Moti Sagar, too felt that the makers could have been more 'careful' in their approach towards the epic. "Certain dialogues, which I am reading on the news and on Twitter, I can say they could have been careful," he told PTI.

One of the lines in the movie, which refers to Sita as "Bharat ki beti," has caused anger among the people of Nepal. This is because Sita is believed to have been born in Janakpur, which is located in present-day Nepal. Although the filmmakers agreed to remove that particular dialogue from the movie, another inaccurate statement about the sovereignty of Nepal has further infuriated the Nepalese people. In an interview on Aaj Tak, Manoj attempted to dismiss the claims of the Nepalese people by incorrectly stating that Nepal was a part of "Bharat" until 1904 and mentioned that it separated from "Bharat". Manoj has been accused of misrepresenting historical facts, leading to calls for a ban on all Hindi movies in Nepal.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi criticized the makers for allegedly using "pedestrian dialogues" in the film. She also demanded an apology from the film's makers and said that the dialogues were disrespectful to the characters of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Similarly, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel alleged that dialogues in the film are "objectionable and indecent" and questioned the "silence" of political parties which call themselves the custodian of religion, an apparent jibe at the BJP. When asked by reporters whether the state government will ban this movie, Baghel said, "The government will think about it (ban) if people will raise a demand in this direction".

Responding to the criticism, Manoj Muntashir defended his work. In an interview with Republic World, he said, "It is not an error. It is a very meticulous thought process that has gone into writing the dialogues for Bajrang Bali and for all the characters. We have made it simple because we have to understand one thing if there are multiple characters in a film, all cannot speak the same language. There has to be a kind of diversion, a kind of division."

Muntashir also mentioned, "Humare yahan daadiyan, naniyan jab Ramayan ki kathaye sunati thi, jo isi bhaasha mein sunaati thi. Yeh dialogue jiska aapne zikar kiya, yeh iss desh ke sant, bade bade katha vachak aisi hi bolte hai jaise maine likha hai (When our grandmothers narrated the tales of Ramayana, they used this language. The dialogue that you mentioned, priests and narrators used to say that in the same way I have written. I'm not the first one to write this dialogue, it's already there)."

However, later he announced that it has been decided that some lines of the dialogue in the film would be altered. In a statement on Twitter, he concluded, "I can give countless arguments in favour of my dialogues, but this will not reduce your pain. Me and the producer-director of the film have decided that some of the dialogues which are hurting you, We’ll revise them, and they’ll be added to the film this week. May Shri Ram bless you all!”

Backtracking and making contradictory statements

In a video, which went viral on social media, Muntashir said: “If people think we are trying to modernise the Ramayan, I want to tell them that not at all. We have presented the Ramayan just like how people heard in stories during their childhood.” In a more recent interview, he said, “The film’s name is Adipurush. Humne Ramayan nahi banayi hai. Hum Ramayan se prerit hai (We have not made the Ramayan; we are just inspired by it),” he said.

Claiming that Lord Hanuman is 'not a god'

In another interview with Aaj Tak, Muntashir said, “Bajrang bali bhagwaan nahi hai, bhakt hai. Humne unko bhagwaan banaya hai kyuki unki bhakti mein woh power tha (Lord Hanuman is not God but a mere devotee. We made him God because his devotion had that power).” This statement led to a political slugfest, where the AAP and Congress attacked the governing BJP for ‘blessing’ the movie whose makers don’t consider Bajrang Bali as God.

While the Shiva Purana specifically refers to Hanuman as an 'incarnation' of Shiva, other Puranas and scriptures provide alternative perspectives. According to these sources, Bajrang bali is commonly regarded as the spiritual son of Vayu, the deity of wind, or as an incarnation of Vayu himself. In some instances, Hanuman is also identified as an avatar of Rudra, another name associated with Vayu.

Ban in Nepal

Banning only this film in the Kathmandu municipality while it runs in other parts of the country and abroad will establish a misleading fact. So screening of any Indian film will be prohibited from tomorrow [Monday] in Kathmandu municipality unless the objectionable part is removed from the film.

Balen Shah wrote on social media.

After the release of the film, a dialogue in the film referring Sita as the "daughter of India" created a controversy in Nepal. The Mayor of Kathmandu, Balen Shah banned the film, stating that the birthplace of Sita was shown in the film as being in India rather than Nepal. After the film was banned in Kathmandu, the film was also banned in Pokhara. Police personnel were deployed across 17 halls in Kathmandu to ensure that no Hindi film is screened, as the dialogues in the film remain unchanged.

FIR

On 18 June 2023, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha lodged an FIR with the Hazratganj police against the producers and cast. In his complaint, Hindu Mahasabha national spokesperson Chaturvedi said that the film was a deliberate attempt to insult Hindu sentiments by distorting the images of Hindu gods with offensive dialogues, costumes.

See also

• Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama an Indo-Japanese anime film based on the epic Ramayana.
• Ramayan a 1987 televised retelling of the epic.

References

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