Adipurush Review: Underwhelming retelling of the epic Ramayana

Om Raut’s Adipurush is a retelling of the epic Ramayana. The makers give a lengthy audio-text disclaimer at the beginning of the film just not to offend anyone’s sentiments. You know the epic tale. Adipurush focuses on the battle between Lord Ram and Ravana after the latter kidnaps Sita.

Adipurush starts off well with Lankesh (better known as Ravana) doing penance in the Himalayas where Lord Brahma gives him the boon of immortality. This is just a glimpse of world-building to follow. And Om Raut and his team of production designers and VFX artists succeed to a great extent in the first half of the film.

As this is a retelling of a timeless tale, I was open to a new perspective and experience. The recreation of Lanka is mesmerizing in the first half. In the second half, it gradually starts to look more like a futuristic granite den inspired by the Guardians of The Galaxy with Lankesh sharpening his weapon with an ironman-like headgear. The Ashok Vatika (garden) where Janaki (better known as Sita) is kept hostage has imported cherry blossom from Japan.

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The VFX sky is the limit for Om Raut’s imagination. He produces some ‘money shots’ like Lankesh’s idea of getting a body massage is to get caressed by a bunch of pythons. Most portions of Lanka in the first half are impressive. The attempt to create something modern is evident but it doesn’t seem original. The Vanar Sena seems inspired by The Planet of The Apes. The asuras (devils) from Lankesh’s army seem to be a mix of Mad Max and Guardians of The Galaxy. This over-manufactured world then lacks soul.

Before I further criticize the film, I must write about some sequences that I enjoyed. The confrontation between Raghava (better known as Lord Ram) and Samudra (Ocean) when the former wants to build a bridge (Ram Setu) over it is done superbly. The transitions of Lankesh getting into his true avatar after kidnapping Janaki is splendid. And so are the portions of him getting tormented between his ten heads. The action sequence between Vali and Sugreev is commendable. There are a few momentarily wow shots here and there.

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The biggest letdown of Adipurush is its dialogue writing (Manoj Muntashir Shukla). The dialogue transition from mythology to WhatsApp jokes to Bambaiyya language. By now you must have seen memes and forwards on the internet about the same. While the writing is inconsistent, the performances are not – they’re consistently one-note flat.

Prabhas as Raghava looks perennially disinterested and lost. His dubbing is off and that hurts. Sunny Singh doesn’t seem to get rid of Punjabi twang. Kriti Sanon as Janaki is one-note and the film seems to remember her as its convenience. It is at large about Raghava and Lankesh. Devdatta Nage as Bajrang has his moments but doesn’t have much to do. The actor having a blast is Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh. He’s enjoying his gear and characterization. I was a bit concerned about him becoming repetitive with his trademark villainish swag but he controls himself.

One can watch Adipurush out of curiosity but I didn’t find the retelling of Ramayana too appealing.