Aadhipurush Movie Review- Telugu

Movie: Aadhipurush

Director: Om Raut

Production: T- Series

Cast: Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Saif Ali Khan & Others

Music: Ajay-Atul 

Editor: Apoorva & Ashish

Cinematography: Karthik Palani

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Release Date: 16/06/2023
Language: Telugu 

   3.5/5

"Interpreted, Manipulated But Still Subtle, Strong, Neat & Perfect"

01. First about the controversy.

Aadhipurush the latest high budget periodical drama based on the epic "Ramayana" by Valmiki has equally recived many negative to mediocre reviews & also garnered controversy with a blame of "deliberate attempt to insult hindu sentiments by distorting of the Hindu gods by offensive language & images".

 But according to me- I'll just say you have to bash all those statements. Nothing as such in the film. May be the characters were a little weird with different appearances & alterations were made but they weren't in any deliberation to hurt anyone's sentiments. The team just tried to portray everything with a new look that suits this present generation mindsets but they weren't any vulgar, cheap nor dirty. Ofcourse changes were made in accordance to the modernization but that doesn't mean they wanted to dump all the religious fans, if that was their motto why to make a film in tribute of the lord of the lords- Shreerama Paramdhama🙏. Their only motto was to appear closer to these so called X gen kids or these Yo-Yo kind youth who have never heard anything about Rama or his prosperity. The intention in altering the characterization & giving them a different colour & look is to tell this epic story to those who believe that all these stories from history & mythology are boring & always they are stereotyped in a monotonous way, like always when you think of Ravana you think of him having ten heads with a crown & lot of jewellery, but these makers broke those stereotypes & told that the demon Ravan can look same like someone as Thanos from Marvel, like he's dangerous, evil & a demon, by such trying to present the story of Ramayana to this younger generation. And read on to why I have to support this film so much.

02. Aadhipurush in & all.

From beginning to end, Aadhipurush just tells the tale of the great epic Ramayanam & all about Ramayanam that's it. The story starts at the transition of Aranyakhandam to Sundarakhandam & ends at Yuddhakhandam. We have to tell that they have been heavily inspired by the great epic tale Ramayanam because of the alterations in appearances of characters but no deviations in the actual story or plot. As per my knowledge, there wasn't any deviation in the story at all. Aadhipurush is the story of Ramayana to all the modern generation people & the international audience too, it's just an attempt to tell our story in a little different say modern way to all those audience who don't know Ramayanam. Leaving everything apart, the plot of Aadhipurush is-

It starts with Demon Ravana given a  blessing by Lord Brahma for being immortal on conditions. Next we have Lord Rama, Seethamma & Laxmana altered as Raghava, Janaki & Seshu by the team who live in the forest happily serving exile as per the orders of his father Dasharatha. And cut right there, the Demon Ravana is shown in his palace at Lanka which is showcased as dark exile like haunted place with all the aliens around, symbolically telling that Lanka is a place where demons live & all the things that happen there are henious. Later, unfortunately Janaki Devi is kidnapped by Ravana for his sister Surpanaka who was abused by the brothers Raghava & Seshu. And you know the same Ramayanam from there, this goes till Rama defeats the powerful & horrific Ravana & gets back to his Ayodhya after his exile period is done. That's the plot of Aadhipurush. 

03. Casting & the manipulations by the team.

All the three characters from Ramayanam - Rama, Seetha & Lakshmana are perfect as Raghava by Prabhas, Janaki by Krithi & Seshu by Sunny Singh, no deviations or alterations - they appear as the characters from the book. All the Vanara clans Sugreeva, Hanuman, Jambavantudu, Anujudu, Vaali & the special mention character Jataayuvu are also perfect, same like from the novel. But, all the characters from Lanka get the alterations, pomp, colour of modernization. Ravana by Saif Ali Khan, Vibhishana, Indrajith, Kumbhakarna & all the Lanka vaasis are altered heavily. All the Lanka vaasis are like aliens, ghosts & Ravana is given a complete new look- you can see the pics that are already going viral & controversial. But, I justified the reason for this behaviour by the team in the above already, I don't find any mistake in doing so because they have not portrayed a vulgar, cheap or a dirty image about them. 

The director already shows scenes where Ravana is seen playing Veena, offering prayers to Lord Shiva & his quest to win Sita- which all are characters of Ravana & how could we go wrong in saying that he's dirty. This' only an attempt to create a connect to those kids who don't know Ramayanam or a new variety, that's it! I cannot justify any further & no controversies are encouraged further. 

04. Performances

Prabhas as Raghava is just perfect, don't believe all those viral & controversial images in internet. It's accepted that this character needs a bit more force but Prabhas cannot be any better in looks or delivery wise. He did the prerequisites. His physique suits the novel character Raghava, but felt that his screen presence & meat in his role should have been increased. Krithi as Sita Maayi is also perfect. All the Vanara clans along with Seshu character are amazingly casted, especially the Hanuman character is very well written. The problems' with Lanka vaasis attires but not with their performances, all of them did well. 

05. Ramayanam & Rama Tatva - & also about Om's interpretation. 

There's only one Ramayana, one Rama & one truth. Rama was a person who believed in truth, righteousness & courage & in course of his life strived to stick by his principles. He was a human form of a godly deity & fought every odds with his will, vision & courage. Ravana bramha, the Veena vidhwan, who sketched Shiva stotra, got blessings from various lords for his ritual sacrifices also called as Yagnyas. But Ravana bramha with his arrogance for his blessing of being immortal made him worst, his quest for the other women- he once wanted the mother of this world Parvathi Devi as his wife later wanted Sita maa, this prove him wrong, evil & infectious. Hence, we hail the king who always stood by righteousness in whichever situation & whatever has come through his way, he just stood by his principles - that's Lord Rama. One bow, one arrow, one word, one wife, one Rama- the greatest Rama, PERIOD! This is what Valmiki Ramayana has said about those characters & Om's interpretation was absolutely perfect, except his fictional taking of Lanka vaasis there's no mistake of his own, I cannot even agree those alterations as blunders as it was only an attempt to portray them as evil & devilish that's it.

06. Clarifications on misconceptions. 

a. The scene where Sita Devi gets killed by Indrajith/Meghanandana is also true. Yes, it's Maaya Sita according to VR Ramachandra's adaptation which was an attempt by Ravana to tense Rama. 

b. Lanka being portrayed as dark & haunted place - it was solely by the team to imply that Ravana, Indrajith, Kumbhakarna are demons & the army supporting them are demons. In Sanathana Dharma the usual belief of Satthvas as bright & coloured, Rajas as rich & balanced, Tamas as evil, dark & devilish is a normal basic convection to represent. I think the director brought in such a complexity here to represent Lanka as dark, evil & demon kind.

c. Fiction in war sequences - it was to match the 3D affects & give a dash of creating a fictional sequence to make it interesting to all sort of audience. 

d. Ravana playing Veena. He's a Veena vidhwan & yes he's a Shiva devotee. Controversy on his heads is a valid one, I don't find it necessary to alter his heads' position.

e. And also about the boon of being invincible. Yes, Lord Brahma granted him immorality & said that he cannot be killed in day or night, air or fire, land or water, by lords or demons, by spirits or powers, by wild beasts or serpants but forgot about humans. So, it's Rama the human form deity who killed Ravana while sun is setting & moon is raising, it's neither day or night, while it's raining & also windy, fire was all around Ravana was on his toes & an arrow shoots into his navel, that's where he got killed.

f. The above can be considered for the Ravana being trailed by the poisonous serpants in a scene. 

g. About the dialogues used by Hanuman at Lanka. Even that is correct, they weren't abusive nor vulgar but harsh. Because, it's Ravana & his army who insult the vanar Hanuman ji there with words & actions (written in Valmiki Ramayana), so this can be a stimulus to such behaviour by Hanuman ji & absolutely acceptable. When Hanuman who was just asked to find Seethamma & come back, put the Lanka on fire, so such harsh dialogues can make a place no issues. 

f. I really don't know about that Bat as a chariot to Ravana, as we always read that it is Pushpaka Vimana that Ravana owns, but the scene showing chunks of meat pieces which Ravana feeds to the bat is an experimentation from the team. 

07. Major assets to Aadhipurush. 

a. Om's vision of telling the Ramayana tale in his style but not making it dirty at all.

b. Characterization of Raghava, Janaki, Seshu.

c. Hanuman character is just brilliant. 

d. Entire first half. 

e. Music & BGM

f. Sticking entirely to the plot & story of Valmiki Ramayanam.

08. Drawbacks.

a. Characterization of Ravana. Not a righteous/valid decision to show him like that in order to impress the younger/modern generation.

b. Entire Lanka vaasis are fictional.

c. Lag in war sequences.

d. Cannot work for 2D audience, war scenes need to be edited if 3D isn't a choice.

e. Artificiality in many scenes.

f. They said it is inspired by Valmiki Ramayanam, but seems to have traces of different adaptations of Ramaynam too.

09. Technicalities. 

Music & score by Ajay-Atul is brilliant. Whole film - the Chorus went shouting the slogans of Shree Ram & Jai Hanuman which was a stupendous idea. Editing & cinematography is good, but lag creeps in the war sequences. VFX does justice to 3D version but 2D version cannot impress the audience. Without effects, entire war sequences are childish, so film went wrong there other wise VFX & CG team also did justice. 

10. Final words.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film for the keen in no vulgarity in taking & seriousness in bringing in every detail from the Valmiki Ramayana & other versions of Ramayanas. The team didn't miss any minute detail in interpreting the epic on screen, like the Vaali-Sugreeva Yuddham, Maaya Sita, Samudra Raaja's favour, Vanara clans help etc etc. Everything is just perfect, if you are worried about the characterization, I bet these people cannot resist the original Ramayana films like Lava Kusa, Sampoorna Ramayanam that were made in past. So, please be positive! Go watch it. Everyone has a perspective, so this' my opinion & review from my perspective. 

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