‘Adipurush’ Movie Review: Stellar VFX, Rushed Storytelling, Cringe-worthy Dialogues – Sums Up Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Saif Ali Khan’s Modern-Day Retelling Of Ramayana

Director: Om Raut

Cast: Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh, Devdatta Nage, Vatsal Sheth, Sonal Chauhan, Siddhant Karnick, Tejaswini Pandit, Trupti Toradmal, Krishna Kotian

Available In: Theatres

Duration: 2 Hours 59 Minutes

‘Adipurush’: Story

Raghava (Prabhas) is the legendary prince of Ayodhya, in the kingdom of Kosala. He goes into a 14-year exile to the forest, which was urged by his father King Dasharatha at the request of Raghava’s stepmother, Kaikeyi. Raghava?travels across forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife, Janaki (Kriti Sanon) and brother, Sesh (Sunny Singh). However, one day, Janaki is kidnapped and taken by Lankesh (Saif Ali Khan) – the king of Lanka, which resulted in a?war leading to Lankesh’s death and Raghava’s eventual return to Ayodhya where Raghava is crowned as the king with jubilation and celebration.

‘Adipurush’: Performances

Saif Ali Khan has the meatiest role of the lot. His character as Lankesh has elements of craziness and devilish behaviour that could have hardly ever been imagined in Raavan. Saif Ali Khan brings a newness to the character which we all have grown up hating so much. Saif Ali Khan’s presentation is a very outlandish way to portray the character, and he does go overboard with caricature a bit at times. But the numerous ways he has managed to show different emotions of the 10 different characters of Raavan is pure excellence of his genius.

Prabhas stands tall with a subtle yet genuine performance. Honestly, the best part about his character is the deep baritone voice, and as well all know, that’s not Prabhas’ and it’s Sharad Kelkar once again voicing for Prabhas. Kelkar’s vocals bring the perfect emotional feel every time that Prabhas is onscreen. From the emotional aspects to the war cries, the voice is absolutely on point. Prabhas’ heavy performance also adds weight to the character. The two together definitely make Raghava a memorable character.

Kriti Sanon has been given a raw deal. After giving such a good performance in ‘Mimi’, it’s hard to see her being shortchanged for a character that’s barely there onscreen. ‘Adipurush’ doesn’t focus that much on Sita’s story, and focuses more on the characters of the men and their fights for?glory. To add to that, there is not enough depth in her character. She just feels like a dainty damsel in distress, which Sita wasn’t at all. She had a lot of self-dignity and a powerful persona, even when she was in captivity. That raw overflow of emotions is missing in Kriti Sanon’s character. A couple of times that she has an altercation of words with Lankesh in the Ashok Vatika, those scenes do have a bit of the spark that Sita had, but everywhere else, the character of Janki has been given the short end of the stick. After a great performance in ‘Mimi’, a lot more was expected from Kriti Sanon. This is a total waste of her talent.

Sunny Singh plays the second fiddle throughout the film. Even though he looks and feels the part perfectly, the persona isn’t as powerful as it’s mentioned in Ramayana. Despite the lesser screen time, Sunny Singh does manage to hold his own pretty well and comes up with a decent performance.

Devdatta Nage comes up with an earnest performance. However, the writing has made him a lot more comical than he actually is in Ramayana. Hanuman’s character was a fun-loving one who used to be full of life and fun and frolic, but when he met Lord Ram, after that he was a very serious character who can be called one of the most skilful personas in Ramayana. Sadly, despite Devdatta Nage’s best tries, the writing makes the character not just hilarious, but at times even cringy.

None of the others in the supporting cast has a stand-out performance to even warrant a mention.

‘Adipurush’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

Om Raut’s direction is the best part about ‘Adipurush’. The fact that he envisioned Ramayana in this form and format is commendable, and what’s even more praiseworthy is that he managed to bring that vision to life. We all have grown up watching the Ramanand Sagar version of Ramayana, but today’s kids and teenagers don’t want to watch that as they find that too out-of-date rusty relic. So, in order to tell the same story to them, Om Raut attempts to speak their language and presents the Ramayana in a world filled with cinematic visual effects and gives you a Marvel-like or rather video game-style environment. The amount of time and effort he has put into making the VFX look oh-so-stunning that it makes you feel that Indian cinema has finally arrived in terms of technology when it comes to comparisons with films from Hollywood.

Where Om Raut falls a bit short is in the writing of the script. However forward we become as a society, there are certain mythological things that Indians don’t want to be messed with. Ramayana is one of them. So, when there are dialogues in current-day lingo coming from characters of Hanuman, Meghnad or even Raavan, audiences feel offended. While Om Raut’s intention may have been to make the lingo not sound 1980s and make it more current day, but even in that, there could have been a certain amount of dignity and respect brought to the words. Some of the dialogues seem outright cringy and make you introspect as to why you decided to watch this version of Ramayana. Also, Om Raut tries to tell a lot of stories from Ramayana in just about 3 hours, which is practically impossible. He has managed to tell a lot, but he should have rather focussed on just the warring sequences more and left the rest. Now, it’s feeling like he tried to say a lot, but eventually ended up rushing things just to culminate in time.

Karthik Palani’s cinematography is indeed key to Om Raut’s vision. The way Karthik Palani has managed to shoot on green screens and create the perfect effect which the visual effects team could build on is remarkable. The amalgamation brought by the camera work in tandem with the VFX team makes ‘Adipurush’ an experience to remember.

Apurva Motiwale Sahai and Ashish Mhatre tried to keep the storytelling as crisp as possible. However, in order to maintain the slow-motioned fight sequences, there are a few instances when the shots have become too long and as a viewer, your eyes tend to droop. A minuscule bit of trimming could have just made those sequences a lot more adrenaline-rushing. Also, some of the songs could have been chopped off to get the film a far more endearing feel.

The background score by Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara is another highlight of the film. The BGM is so good that you’re left teary-eyed at some points and fully pumped up at others. It helps create that video game effect and makes the viewer feel like they’re right in the middle of all that’s happening onscreen.

The songs by Ajay-Atul and Sachet-Parampara are decent. However, some of them were absolutely unnecessary. There is an entire romantic song featuring Prabhas and Kriti Sanon which had no significance at all.

‘Adipurush’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

‘Adipurush’ has loads of cringe-worthy dialogues – period. But that doesn’t supersede the fact that it’s a really well-made film. The visual effects are as per Hollywood standards and there are no ways about it. The storyline is indeed rushed, but it's excusable as you can’t concise the entire Ramayana in 3 hours. It would take almost 10 films of 3 hours each to get into every small detail of the story, as it’s that vast. What’s best about ‘Adipurush’ is that it’s made for today’s young kids who want to watch the same story of Ramayana but in a more Marvel way, a more video game animated way, as they’re not interested in seeing the Ramanand Sagar version of the story as it’s too 1980s for them. So, no harm no foul in having a modern way of telling the same story. If you’re looking for the feel of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana, then this is not your cup of team. For the rest, this is indeed a Good One Time Watch. I am going with 3.5 stars.