How the backlash to the Adipurush teaser throws open a whole line of questions!

The intense backlash to the teaser of Om Raut’s Adipurush throws open a whole line of  questions on how a film, reportedly budgeted at Rs 450-475 crores, turned out to be so abysmally amateurish in look and mood.

Apparently, Adipurush faced a battle-like situation from the beginning when Raut planned a  revisionist version of the Ramayana. Early indications were that Raavan would be portrayed  not as the archvillain but an erudite scholar with an intellectually developed attitude. When hints of a revisionist Raavan, revealed in the public domain, did not go down well with the nation, all discussions on a revisionist Ramayana was revoked; Raut and his team decided to do a traditional Good Versus Bad Ramayana with Prabhas as Rama and Saif Ali Khan as Raavan.

Casting Khan as Raavan proved a costly error of judgement. Experience in recent years has proved that the mythological are ethnically inviolable. Just as a filmmaker cannot have a Hindu actor playing an Islamic prophet, one can’t have a Muslim actor playing a pivotal part in a screen adaptation of Hindu mythology. Whether that is morally correct or not is not the issue here. It is just the way it is, period.

Recently, Aamir Khan dropped his plans to make the Mahabharat. He wanted to play Lord Krishna. He was advised not to. Unlike most of the other thick-skinned, impervious Bollywood superstars, Aamir listens to constructive advice.

The makers of Adipurush too were advised against signing Saif Ali Khan for Raavan. But they wouldn’t listen. Their argument was, it is the role of the villain. Which is akin to arguing that Raavan is the villain of the Ramayana. He may or may not be. But he is an integral part of the Hindu mythology. Villain or no, he is an intrinsic part  of the mythology.

During the shooting, the problems for Adipurush were not to do with Raavan. But Rama. By the time Prabhas started shooting for Adipurush, he had serious dietary issues precipitated by a grave knee injury. An unabashed, self-confessed foodie, Prabhas once told me he started  sharing food from his home with his cast and crew, so he would not eat excessively.

Then on top of that, the knee injury during the shooting of Baahubali made any exertional exercises impossible. Consequently, Adipurush was burdened with a paunchy, overweight actor playing Ram.

“We will fix it in the post-production,” they decided.

Tragically, the photo-shopping has not been very effective. In the teaser, Prabhas’ Ram still seems to be carrying the weight of the world a little too literally. Considering more than Rs 200 crores were spent on special-effects, why is Ram looking so out of shape?

More importantly, why is the film looking so out of shape?

After the savage trolling and vehement criticism, the producers of Adipurish have gone into a huddle planning their next move. Apparently, some portions of the film may be re-shot, keeping in mind the objections being raised.

But tampering with the content of a film, trying to “fix it” never works. The best way out for the film is to let the anger of the public subside. Let the provocateurs lie low until the Wrath  Yatra passes by.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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