Adipurush (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – An adaption of Ramayana

My Take – For Indians, irrespective of their religion, Valmiki’s most revered good vs evil tale, Ramayana, is one of the most well-known epics of Hindu mythology. A tale which deserved a big screen adaption due to its wide scope and well-rooted story elements.

With a promising premise and a talented cast in hand, the feature adaption seemed safe in the hands of writer-director Om Raut, who had well proven his worth with the National award winning historical actioner, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020). Hence, it comes as a rude shock how he falls short on every aspect, leaving one unsatisfied and disillusioned.

Mired in controversies ever since its first teaser released, primarily due to its insipid visual effects, the delayed final film still ended up proving to be a disastrous venture. With its misguided choices in visual effects, lackluster character development, underwhelming performances, abysmal dialogues, and language inconsistencies, the adaption just misses the mark on multiple levels.

Despite being modernized with steel-plated bows and arrows, stylish armors, dragon-like creatures, talking apes and trolls, probably in an effort to connect with the younger audience, director Om Raut‘s take on Ram, Sita, and Ravana, ultimately just fails to leave a lasting impact, and will likely leave viewers feeling exhausted by the end of its 179 minutes run time and questioning where ₹500 crore budget actually went?

Barring Sanchit and Ankit Balhara‘s BGM, everything about this film is a baffling and colossal disappointment.

The story follows Raghava (Prabhas) aka Ram, the legendary prince of Ayodhya, from the kingdom of Kosala, who in order to fulfill the word of his father, King Dasharatha (Krishna Kotian), goes into a 14 year exile to the forest in the Indian subcontinent, along with his wife, Janaki (Kriti Sanon) aka Sita and younger brother, Shesh (Sunny Singh) aka Laxman. Meanwhile, Lankesh (Saif Ali Khan) aka Ravana, a devout of Shiv, is visited by Brahma and rewarded with limitless power and immortality.

However, years later their paths cross when Shurpanakha (Tejaswini Pandit), Lankesh’s sister, falls in love with Raghava and proposes marriage to him. But since he’s already married to Janki, he rejects her. Enraged, Shurpanakha tries to kill Janaki, only to find her nose slashed off by Shesh’s arrow.

Wanting revenge, Shurpanakha complains to Lankesh, now the menacing and towering king of the vast empire of Lanka, about the incident and when she informs him about Janaki’s beauty, he ends up abducting her. Determined to get his wife back, Raghava, joined by Shesh, seek the help of Bajrang (Devdatta Nage) aka Hanuman, Sugriva and their vanara army to attack Lanka.

Every criticism that has been leveled against the film are real. Director Om Raut‘s precarious attempt is a monumental disaster in every aspects of filmmaking. Starting from the caricature character design of Raavan, cartoonish rendering of the vanara sena, and cringe dialogues to the uneven screenplay, everything deserves to be bashed in this misfire.

One of the major letdowns of the film lies in its character development. Throughout the film, Ram’s character lacks any semblance of emotion, and there is a noticeable absence of charm, Laxman’s portrayal fails to do justice to the character, Sita’s character lacks the pride and grace befitting the traditional portrayal, instead being presented as a modern interpretation.

Surprisingly, Raavan himself steals the spotlight, appearing as the most striking character, modernized in every aspect. From riding a dragon-like creature to wielding contemporary weapons and residing in a stylish dark palace, his portrayal hilariously stands out.

Another glaring issue with the film is its screenplay and dialogue. Though the overall setting of the film doesn’t look like it’s happening in contemporary times. Yet, the characters talk in a very urban way, like they walked right out of a gangster flick. The lack of impactful writing makes it difficult for the viewers to connect with the story or the characters, leading to a sense of detachment throughout the film.

Of course, nothing fails bigger than the film’s VFX, or rather the lack thereof. Despite having a massive budget, the film fails to achieve even a fraction of the visual effects quality. It’s clear that more effort should have been put into fixing the VFX instead of just superficially color grading the scenes. While the excellent background music comes to rescue the film from sliding down due to pretty poor special effects. Adding more hurt to injury are the performances.

In a severe case of miscast, Prabhas, known for his charismatic presence on-screen, fails to justify his role as the protagonist. His performance lacks depth and fails to evoke the necessary emotions that could have brought the character to life. Though Kriti Sanon is decent in her role, she is given limited scope to perform. In supporting roles, Sunny Singh consistently maintains a blank face, while Vatsal Sheth and Devdatta Nage have their moments.

In smaller roles, Sonal Chauhan and Tejaswini Pandit are wasted. Only Saif Ali Khan‘s performance in the film deserves recognition as he effectively portrays a plethora of emotions with skillful execution. On the whole, ‘Adipurush’ is a disappointing adaption which marred by poor writing and terrible VFX fails to capitalize on its potential.