Adipurush
Adipurush is a 2023 Indian mythological action film inspired by the Hindu epic Ramayana. The film is directed and co-written by Om Raut, and produced by T-Series and Retrophiles. Produced in Bollywood, the film was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu. The film features Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh, and Devdutta Nage.
The film was announced in August 2020, through an official motion poster. Principal photography, which took place primarily in Mumbai, commenced in February 2021 and ended in November 2021. The film's music is composed by Ajay–Atul and Sachet-Parampara. Adipurush is budgeted at - and became one of the most expensive Indian films.
Adipurush was released on 16 June 2023. It was heavily panned by critics and audiences alike, who criticised the film's screenplay, dialogues and visuals. It emerged as a box office bomb, though it became the second-highest grossing Telugu film of 2023.
Plot
Thousands of years ago, the rakshasa king of Lanka, Lankesh, obtained a boon from Brahma, the god of creation, with which he cannot be slain by the gods or demons during the day or night, thus making him essentially invincible. Elsewhere, many years afterwards in the kingdom of Ayodhya, King Dashratha of Kosala, exiles his son, Raghava for 14 years to fulfil his promise to his wife, Kaikeyi, Raghava's stepmother, that their son, Bharat, would ascend the throne. Raghava accepts the exile and leaves for the wilderness in the forests of Panchavati, near the river Godavari, alongside his wife, Janaki, and brother, Shesh.Lankesh's sister, the rakshasi Shurpanakha, tries to seduce Raghava into marrying her and attempts to take Janaki's life, but after a failed attempt, she ends up with a lopped-off nose. Upon hearing of his sister's humiliation, he sends one of his henchman, Maricha, disguised as a golden deer, to distract both Raghava and Shesh. Lankesh proceeds to abduct Janaki, after hearing of her beauty from Shurpanakha. Raghava and Shesh set out to free and rescue Janaki. On the way, they encountered Shabari who led them to Mount Rishyamukha. With the help of the Vanara king, Sugriva, his aides, Jambavan, Angad, and Bajrang, along with the Vanarasena. Raghava asks Bajrang to go to Lanka and instil confidence in Janaki, of his eventual arrival to Lanka. He flies to Lanka and lets Janaki know of her impending rescue. However, he is captured by Lankesh's son, Indrajit. His tail is set ablaze by him, but Bajrang proceeds to fly and destroy a portion of Lanka, before flying back to Raghava and the vanarasena.
With the help of Samudra, the god of the oceans, Raghava and the vanarasena create a bridge across the sea to Lanka. Raghava and his army successfully cross the ocean to reach the shores of Lanka. Meanwhile, Lankesh's brother, Vibhishana, is forced to leave Lanka because he had opposed Lankesh's decision to abduct Janaki. Vibhishana joins the ranks of Raghava's army and becomes his sworn ally. Lankesh is given a final ultimatum of bringing Janaki back to Raghava, but rejects it, paving the way to a skirmish. During the skirmish, Shesh is mortally wounded by Indrajit. However, with the help of the sanjivani mountain brought back by Bajrang, they are able to revive and cure him.
They embark on war at Lankesh's palace, attacking in three separate directions at the same time. The first attack is led by Sugriva and Jambavan, along with the vanarasena at the entrance of Lankesh' palace. Because of the advanced artillery and weaponry available at Lankesh's disposal, many vanaras are slain. However, the tide turns with Raghava providing air support, with the help of Bajrang. The second attack is led by Shesh, Vibhishana, and Angad to kill Indrajit. Shesh proceeds to attack Indrajit; though he is stabbed by him, he successfully kills him. The two attacks are successful in overpowering Lankesh's army. The third attack is initiated, where Kumbhakarna is awoken from his deep slumber. Raghava and Shesh successfully kill him when he overpowers Bajrang. With no other option left, Lankesh decides to enter the battlefield.
The final battle takes place where Raghava manages to subdue and kill Lankesh, after realising that Lankesh can only be slain in between day and night; Janaki is freed. Raghava, Shesh and Janaki complete their 14-year-long exile and return to Kosala, where Raghava is crowned as the king of Ayodhya, with Janaki as his queen.
Cast
Production
Development
Adipurush, an adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana, was announced on 18 August 2020, via a promotional poster. Prabhas portrays Rama under the direction of Om Raut who earlier helmed the period action film Tanhaji. Om Raut was fascinated by the 1992 Japanese film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama and was motivated to adapt the Ramayana into a film using modern technology. Raut wrote the script amidst COVID-19 lockdown in India. Prabhas immediately liked the project and the production company T-Series Films was on board for the project.Adipurush is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, with a budget of 550-800 crore. The film was initially reported to have a budget of 500-600 crores, however after the release of first teaser, the film was met with severe backlash for the poor quality of VFX and CGI, despite having a humungous budget, which compelled the makers to postpone the film by five months and an additional budget of 100-200 crores was assigned to improve the quality of VFX and CGI. It was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, while also filmed in 3D.
Casting
In September 2020, the makers revealed that Prabhas is enacting Rama's portrayal whose character name was later revealed as Raghava. Saif Ali Khan, who already worked as an antagonist in Raut's Tanhaji, signed on for the role of Ravana, with the alias name, Lankesh. After rumours of Anushka Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Kiara Advani, and Keerthy Suresh being approached for the role of Sita, with the alias name of Janaki, it was reported in November 2020 that Kriti Sanon has been cast to essay the role; her inclusion into the film was confirmed by the makers four months later in March 2021. Sunny Singh, who joined the sets in February 2021, played Lakshmana, with the alias name being Shesh. Sharad Kelkar dubbed for Prabhas in the Hindi version while P. Ravi Shankar dubbed for Saif Ali Khan in the Telugu, Tamil and Kannada versions.Filming
Motion capture shoot for Adipurush begun on 19 January 2021. Muhurtam shot and formal launch was done on 2 February 2021 in Mumbai, India. Principal photography of the movie began that day, as informed by the makers. A massive fire accident took place at the filming location in Mumbai on the same day. Duplicate sets were erected same wise due to the fire break-out. In October 2021, Khan and Sanon wrapped up shoot. On 10 November 2021, the filming was completed.Music
The music for both the Hindi and Telugu versions of the film is composed by Ajay–Atul and Sachet–Parampara. The first single titled "Jai Shri Ram" was released in its short version on 6 April 2023 on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. The full song was released on 20 May 2023 under the same name in Hindi and Telugu alongside dubbed versions. The second single titled "Ram Siya Ram" and "Ram Sita Ram" was released on 29 May 2023.Marketing
The film's teaser was released on 2 October 2022 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The teaser received heavy criticism for its visual effects and CGI. The film's trailer was released on 9 May 2023, and was seen as an improvement from the teaser with regards to the visuals. The final trailer of the film was released on 6 June 2023.Release
Theatrical
Adipurush was theatrically released on 16 June 2023 in Hindi and Telugu, along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam. It was previously scheduled to release on 11 August 2022, but was later postponed due to the release of Laal Singh Chaddha. The film was postponed again to avoid a clash with Veera Simha Reddy and Waltair Veerayya and also to rework the visual effects, due to the severe backlash after the release of the teaser trailer.The film was initially reported to have a budget of 500-600 crores, making it one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, however after the release of first teaser, the film was met with severe backlash for the poor quality of VFX and CGI, despite having a humungous budget, which compelled the makers to postpone the film by five months and an additional budget of 100-200 crores was assigned to improve the quality of VFX and CGI.
The film was set to premiere at the Tribeca Festival in the Escape From Tribeca section on 13 June 2023, but was cancelled by the makers later. The film was supposed to be played at the Film Festival on 15 and 17 June, but its world premiere, 3 days before the world release had been put down.
The film was also initially scheduled for an IMAX release, which was cancelled later due to the simultaneous release and advance booking of screens for The Flash; the IMAX rulebook does not allow two IMAX films to release on the same day.
The film was initially stopped from release in Nepal citing an issue with a specific dialogue in the film where Goddess Janaki is referred to as the "daughter of India". The controversial dialogue was later removed from the film as per the media reports. Vedic records show Goddess Sita was born in Mithila but the site is controversial. Indians believe that Goddess Sita was born in part of Mithila which falls in India, the present day Sitamarhi in Bihar. Where as Nepalese believe that Goddess Sita was born in part of Mithila which falls in Nepal, the present day Janakpur in Madhesh Province. This further resulted in all Indian films being banned from releasing in the Kathmandu Metropolitan area.