Sunil Lahri, star of Ramayan TV show, reviews Adipurush: Why will Raavan come on a bat?

Actor Sunil Lahri, who played Lakshman in Ramanand Sagar's cult TV show Ramayan, has criticised Om Raut's Adipurush which is based on the same epic. The actor recently watched the film and shared his views in a video on Instagram. Lahri raised several questions about the way the character of Raavan - Saif Ali Khan - was depicted in the film. In Valmiki's Ramayan, Raavan is known to abduct Sita in Pushpak Vimaan, while in Adipurush, Khan is shown flying a giant bat.

Lahri called out the artistic liberties that the makers have taken in the film, changing some very important moments of the epic just for cinematic purposes.

He called the dialogues of the film poorly written and said that the makers should feel sorry for serving this to the audience and hurting their sentiments.

In the video posted on Monday, Sunil Lahri speaks in Hindi and says, “I had high expectations from Adipurush that I will get to see something different, but it is very disappointing. You can't play with your culture in the name of doing something different, especially those who are our own. The characters are not defined. The audience doesn't find any emotional attachment to the scenes. In fact, the dialogues are also very bekaar (poor)."

Lahri raised several questions about the film. "Can you imagine Hanumanji saying dialogues like ‘tel tere baap ka, kapda tere baap ka’? Or Meghnad will say, ‘abey chal nikal le’? Or Raavan will come on a bat instead of the Pushpak Vimaan? Or Meghnad and Lakshman will fight underwater? I am very sorry but I never expected this from a filmmaker of this calibre.”

Lahri also pointed out that how "Ravan was the king of the most beautiful country. I don't know why they have shown him beating iron. He was the King of Trilok. Why was there a need to bring a fake Sita in the film? If they had told the story in a simple way, things would have been different. All the characters looked confused to me."

The actor slammed Adipurush director while speaking to a news portal and said, “I thought Om Raut is a sensible director. He had all things available.” He also mentioned that when Ramayan was retelecastedduring the lockdown, the viewers connected with it and accepted the look, language and everything else. He also asked, “It looks like the director is very confused. I don't know why he made the film."

Starring Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh and Saif Ali Khan- Adipurush released in theatres in 3D on June 16. Within threedays of its release, the film has crossed Rs 3 billion ($3,66,23,550) mark at the box office.