When it comes to presenting epics like #Ramayan or #Mahabharat, one needs to present it with kid gloves. Mainly because with them are attached common people’s faith and emotions. Recently released Adipurush retells the story of Ramayan with a modern touch. To cater to the youngsters the director #OmRaut has presented it with a lot of #VFX and #CGI. But Ramayan has always been taught to children in most of the hindu houses and here the presentation of this epic tale needed novelty. Unfortunately the movie falters in presentation and the lack of emotional connect makes it more drab. This good versus evil tale in the movie gives lesser importance to the ethos and relies more on the technical aspects.
Almost every Indian knows about the major happenings in Ramayan but here the writers have taken cinematic liberty to make it more interesting, but fail in that attempt. The narrative immediately goes into the major aspect of Ramayan, i.e. Ram’s exile (Vanvas) and abduction (apaharan) of Sita by Ravan. In fact there are more dramatic happenings in the original which is depicted through animated stills and commentary. Raghav (Prabhas), to honour his father Dasharath’s promise to Kaikeyi chooses to go for Vanvas. Shesh i.e. Laxman (Sunny Singh) and Janaki (Kriti Sanon) accompany him. Ravan’s (Saif Ali Khan) sister’s, Shurpanikha’s (Tejaswini Pandit), nose is cut by Laxman and she urges Ravan to take revenge by abducting Janaki. Ravan disguises himself as a sadhu and on the pretext of receiving ‘bhiksha’ abducts Janaki with mystical powers and takes her to Lanka. Raghav with the help of Bajrang (Devdatt Nahe), Sugriv and the ‘vanar sena’ builds a Setu (bridge) on the sea and fights Ravan to free his beloved wife from his clutches. Well as the story is well known, novel storytelling could have been the differentiator.
Om Raut has presented this epic from his point of view but a lot of things fail to appeal. The initial half is slow and lack of emotional depth making it boring. The second half has a lot of action but it doesn’t grasp the audience’s breath. In fact Lanka which is known as made of gold is shown dark and made up of stony skyscrapers. Even the major fight and the climax doesn’t give extraordinary experience. The dialogues too disappoint as at places they sound ‘Tapori’. Om Raut has made efforts to make the proceedings interesting but he should have put in more efforts. The haircuts of some of the characters are questionable. VFX and CGI could have been much better as the viewers these days are exposed to better fare in the international films, series. Music (Ajay Atul) is the saving grace and Ram Siya Ram and other few songs are melodious. Background score is good but could have been better. Prabhas doesn’t gain sympathy as he wears stoic expression throughout. Kriti Sanon has a lesser screen time but she looks beautiful justifying her selection and scores in emotional scenes. Saif Ali Khan has tried to infuse drama in his character but he overdoes it. Devdatt Nage impresses with his presence and acting chops as (Bajrang) Hanuman. Sunny Singh, Tejashree Pradhan, Sonal Chauhan, Vijay Anand, Trupti Toradmal, Vatsal Seth and others do their job perfectly.
Adipurush is an amateurish attempt on presenting Ramayan in a modern technical format.
**1/2
