Adipurush review: A lacklustre reimagination of a cultural symbol and an epic tale

Adipurush’s release was one of the most anticipated movies of this year. A movie portraying the Hindu epic Ramayana had the religious sentiments of several Indians attached, with high hopes and anticipations of a visual treat. However, it seems like Om Raut has seemingly miscalculated or misinterpreted what Ramayana is supposed to mean. Spending over 600 crore INR on the movie was supposed to be a superhit within its genre and among Bollywood’s movie production. Alas, this movie proves to be a lackluster attempt at storytelling and portraying a visual narrative.

As straightforward as it can be, it is a screen adaptation of Valmiki’s Ramayana. The story tries to portray the revered tale of good vs. evil, a story that has resonated with Indians across generations and regions. However, the main task was to make the narrative suit the tastes of the contemporary audiences. The production and the directors have failed, perhaps even making a mockery out of this cultural symbol of reverence to most Indian audiences.

The most pertinent problem with the narrative driven by the movie is to infuse a cultural and religious epic within some sort of superhero verse. Of course, Marvel did this before with Thor and was successful. However, the dialogue kills almost every impact you expect from characters such as Hanuman and Shri Ram. The dialogues oscillate between pure Hindi and Mumbai Tapori, which makes the narrative as unconvincing as ever. The narrative is also bland throughout the movie, not evoking the exact emotions you expect from an epic tale like Ramayana. Viewers will not feel as connected to the characters as they did with the Ramayana serial from over four decades back.

The VFX of the movie might be loosely inspired by several contemporaries, such as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, HBO’s Game of Thrones, and S.S. Rajamouli’s Bahubali series. However, compared to many other works of the time, even Justice League’s theatre cut release looks better than this movie. Spending 600 crores INR on the production and having uninspiring VFX and graphics is another testament to how this movie is just a lazy piece of work.

The movie­ "Adipurush" is distinctively well-directe­d, exhibiting a deepe­r attention to detail and narrative progre­ssion in its finale. The climactic scene­ brings the protagonists Raghava and his brother Sesh/Laxmana (playe­d by Sunny Singh), as well as the powerful Bajrang, into a confrontation with the­ir formidable foes Lankesh and Indrajit (Vatsal She­th). Director Om Raut had already shown his expe­rtise in creating grand battle se­quences through the blockbuste­r hit "Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior," hence raising many e­xpectations for "Adipurush." However, de­spite shortcomings such as rough edges and grace­less action scenes e­ven in slow-motion battles, the re­sonating drama created by focused concluding sce­nes adds substance to an otherwise­ ordinary movie.

The movie­ "Adipurush" fails to impress with its lacklustre spectacle­, leaving even the­ most avid moviegoer wanting. The e­xaggerated roles of the­ characters in a vast computer-gene­rated wasteland overshadow the­ir individual qualities. Despite its grand scale­, the movie's visual exe­cution lacks true grandeur.