Mukesh Khanna lambasts Adipurush, says makers should be 'burnt at 50 degrees'

Amid a barrage of criticism and anger that the makers of Adipurush are facing, actor Mukesh Khanna has put in his two pennies' worth. After blasting the film on his YouTube channel, he spoke to the news agency ANI, voicing his concerns about the dialogues and costumes used in the film andquestioning the right of the filmmakers to insult scriptures. Khanna firmly stated his belief that 'Adipurush' is a disrespectful depiction of Ramayan, describing it as a "terrible joke." He asserted that the makers seem unaware of the blessings bestowed upon Ravan and mistakenly attributed the blessings of Hiranyakashyap to the character.

Also Read:Adipurush review: Ramayana gets a VFX makeover

"While Shiv ji had blessed Ravan, now those who do not have that much knowledge, then you are talking big things. It is absolutely rubbish. They should not be forgiven. Yesterday I said on my channel that this whole team should be burnt standing at fifty degrees Celsius," he added.

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Khanna, who is known for his superhero TV series Shaktimaan and for playing the role ofBhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra's Mahabharata,went on to say that he expected to "hide their face" after the controversy erupted, but "they are coming forward and explaining this much. They are saying that we are making it for Sanatan Dharma. Hey, is your Sanatan Dharma different from ours? They said that there was the version of Valmiki ji, then there was the version of Tulsidas ji, this is our version. Are you above Valmiki ji that you will create your own version and tell the children to forget the old tradition?"

What is Adipurush all about?

Simply put, Adipurush is a cinematic retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana, believed to have been written by sage Valmiki. Directed and co-written (with Manoj Muntashir) by Om Raut, it features a star-studded cast including Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh, and Devdatta Nage. It was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu.

Also Read:Adipurush makers to alter dialogues in the movie after backlash: 'Nothing is beyond the sentiments'

Why is Adipurush surrounded by controversy?

The release of the film has ignited intense debates and public outrage, primarily due to certain dialogues that have been deemed indecent and objectionable. Particularly, the dialogues attributed to the character Hanuman in the Lanka dahan sequence have sparked controversy, leading to discussions on their appropriateness within the film.

Writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla, however, came forward to defend the film, suggesting that the inclusion of these dialogues was intentional and intended to create a diversion or division among multiple characters. He further argued that similar dialogues had been used by renowned saints and storytellers in India, saying that he was not the first to write such lines as they were "already there".Shukla clarified that Adipurush drew inspiration from the Ramayana but was not a direct adaptation of the epic.

His clarification, though, seemed to have made things worse. The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha lodged an FIR with the Hazratganj police on June 18. The complaint, filed by Hindu Mahasabha national spokesperson Chaturvedi, alleged that Adipurush deliberately insulted Hindu sentiments by distorting the images of Hindu gods through offensive dialogues and costumes.

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