Adipurush review: Ramayana gets a VFX makeover

Filmmaker Om Raut's highly anticipated Adipurush has been in the news ever since the film's first look came out in 2022. There have been debates, discussions and controversies around the film's casting and implementation of the epic on the big screen. Adipurush is based on Valmiki's Ramayan, an epic that almost all Indians have grown up reading, watching, or listening to. This is why it becomes difficult to adapt such a well-known story (and exhaustive) into a three-hour film. Does it do justice? Read on to find out.

The story is a known one and Raut, who also serves as the writer of the film, starts off the film where Raghav (Prabhas), Janaki (Kriti Sanon), and Shesh (Sunny Singh) are living in exile. The story also has Lankesh (Saif Ali Khan) who abducts Janaki after his sister Surpanakha faces insult at the hands of Shesh and Raghav. How Raghav and Shesh along with loyal aide Bajrang (Devdatta Nage) and an army of monkeys to wage a war against Lankesh to bring back Janaki forms the rest of the story.

If you set aside the fact that the story is a well-known one and one that you have seen being adapted on screen before, Raut's Adipurush delivers a visual extravaganza. Especially the introduction scene of Lankesh and Raghav. Some may find the depiction of Raavan, aka Lankesh, outlandish, but Raut's interpretation of the antagonist seems interesting.

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Experimenting with the characters of Ram and Sita is risky in today's time. After all, they are considered sacred in India and given godly status. And so Raut takes copious amounts of artistic liberty to reinvent the character of Raavan. The result is GOT's Khal Drogo-meets-Bhansali's Khilji-esque Raavan. With the help of CGI, which helps Khan appear double his size, Lankesh sports a grunge look with a spike hairdo and blue eyes. He is always dressed in black leather and sports a menacing look on his face. His choice of transport is a creature who is a cross between a dragon and Pterodactyl. In fact, Raut borrows heavily from pop culture.

In Prabhas' intro scene, he fights skeletal-faced flying creatures which remind you of dementors from Harry Potter. Adipurush carries plenty of references fromGame of Thrones, Harry Potter, and even The Flash.

Despite a very CGI-enabled premise, the first half is a stretch and you are impatient to move to the actual battle scene. It serves well in the second half and is implemented in an elaborate manner and that's when Adipurush really shines and becomes a visual spectacle.

The makers also play to the gallery. You know that some of the lines have been written to draw in cheers and claps in the film theatres. Some of the dialogues include-"Jo hamari behno ko hath lagayenge, unki lanka laga denge” (We will burn down homes if you trouble our sisters)," "Kapda tere baap ka, tel tere baap ka, jalegi bhi tere baap ki,"(will burn down father's kingdom and ego)"Tu Jaanta hai mera baap kaun hai? (You know who's my father?)"

Since it has so much VFX,I did feel it limited the scope of performance for the actors. Prabhas looks his partand has limited dialogues, but looms large throughout the film. Similarly, Sanon looks stunning as Sita yet hardly has much scope to act considering her limited screen time and dialogues. Sunny Singh as Laxman has his moments and so does Devdatta Nage as Bajrang.

Vatsal Seth as Indrajit shows spark in his role but the film easily has Saif Ali Khan stealing the show with his evil act as Lankesh. His character is the most fleshed out and Khan doesn't disappoint with his interpretation.

For purists, Adipurush may appear too experimental as it interprets a few crucial moments of Ramayana in a new way. But if you look at it as a stand-alone film, it tells a story about good vs evil effectively mostly.

It isn't the best film in terms of VFX but serves an audience that perhaps has never watched the Ramanand Sagar version on TV. Let's just say it revises and refreshes your basic knowledge of the epic, and gives you a grunge-looking Raavan.

Should you be watching Adipurush? You sure will, even if this review discourages you to, no?

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