MP Min slams 'Adipurush' director; asks to cut "offensive scenes"

BHOPAL: After BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash slammed Adipurush director Om Raut for "misrepresentation" of Ramayana, the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister has issued a statement echoing similar sentiments.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra slammed the filmmaker and expressed his objection to the portrayal of the Hindu religion in the film. He also stated that he is writing a letter to Om Raut asking him to remove objectionable scenes.

Narottam Mishra said, "We have an objection to the portrayal of the film Adipurush. It is not right to slander us by wrongly filming the focal points of the Hindu faith. I am writing a letter to filmmaker Om Raut to remove the objectionable scenes, if those scenes are not removed then we will take legal action."

Earlier, while speaking to ANI, BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash said, "I am saddened by the fact that the director let alone researching the Valmiki's Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana or Tulsidasa's Ramayana, or the umpteen numbers of interpretations of Ramayana that are available across board as far as Thailand where they do beautiful performances of the Ramayana.

The least he could have done is research our own films; there are so many Kannada films, Telugu films, Tamil films, which show how Raavana looked."

"He could have just looked up NT Rama Rao or Dr Rajkumar in 'Bhookailasa' or any of these great actors, SV Ranga Rao in 'Sampoorna Ramayana', to understand how Raavana looked.

The Raavana in the photograph that I see floating around is a guy who looks nothing Indian, who has blue eye makeup and is wearing leather jackets. This is our history they are representing; they cannot do it in the guise of creative liberty," she continued.

Malavika stated that "Ramayana is who we were" and added, "it represents this nation, its civilisation and its people. So no one can take it for granted, let alone a film director. I am angry and I am saddened by this misrepresentation".

Raut made this film with the dream of bringing the story of Ramayana to the silver screen but ever since the first teaser of Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon-starrer 'Adipurush' dropped yesterday, there has been a unanimously negative response from various quarters.

People have largely been disappointed due to the film's poor VFX and the unrealistic look of various characters including Saif's Raavan. Seeing Saif donning short spiked hairs, long beard and kajal eyes, several netizens have compared the actor's look in the film with that of Alauddin Khilji rather than Raavana.

'Adipurush' has been produced by T Series and Retrophiles. It is slated to hit the theatres on January 12, 2023, in IMAX and 3D.

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Om, Prasad Sutar, and Rajesh Nair, the film will be released in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.