‘Adipurush’ Review: A retelling of Ramayana with not a single redeeming quality

Fronted by Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, and Saif Ali Khan, the much-publicised Indian film Adipurush finally entered cinemas on June 16 amid much fanfare. Based on the venerated Hindu epic Ramayana, the mega-budgeted mythological drama from director Om Raut starts directly from the episode of Janaki’s (Kriti Sanon) abduction by Lankesh (Saif Ali Khan) and then focuses on how Raghav (Prabhas) and Shesh (Sunny Singh), with the help of Bajrang (Devdutta Nage), wage a war against the 10-headed Lankesh and bring Janaki back.

Adipurush, as the teaser and trailer showed, is based on a lavish scale. The makers have left no stone unturned in making sure that every scene of the film reflects the money that has gone into creating magnificent sets, rich costumes, and CGI. However, despite being mounted on such a huge scale and having well-established actors like Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, and Saif Ali Khan on the cast to play lead characters, the film lacks soul.

Prabhas, who became a household name after the thunderous success of SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017), seems a poor choice for the role of Ram, who is called Raghav here. He looks dull and lethargic more often than not, his eyes always weary and swollen. It is hard to imagine a more miscast Ram in any version of Ramayana. Kriti Sanon as Janaki, or Sita, is decent. She does justice to her limited presence in a 3-hour-long film. Having said that, there is absolutely no chemistry between her and Prabhas. Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh fails to leave any impact.

The makers faced massive backlash when they released the first official teaser of the film during Ram Navami last year. A large section of the audience panned the teaser for the poor VFX and cartoonish look of the actors. This led the makers to postpone the film by good five months as they said they needed more time to polish the film. However, when you finally see the film, you find that VFX and CGI are still not up to the mark.

Dialogues by well-known lyricist and dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir leave no impact. In fact, the film is loaded with some objectional dialogues that do not suit the characters. The film has a very dark and gloomy vibe about it does not succeed in delivering the kind of experience the makers promised.

Cast: Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Saif Ali Khan, and Sunny Singh

Direction: Om Raut

Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishnan Kumar, and Om Raut

Music: Ajay Atul and Sachet Parampara

Runtime: 2 hours and 59 minutes