On Saturday, a petition was filed in a Delhi court seeking a stay on the distribution of the forthcoming film ‘Adipurush’ in its current form, stating that the promo published by its makers has negatively affected and hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by presenting Hindu Gods, Lords Ram and Hanuman, in an inaccurate manner.
Ever since the teaser of the movie was released on YouTube on October 2, it has become one of the most controversial teasers in Bollywood. Netizens have slammed the movie for very poor VFX quality that makes the characters look like cartoon characters, and for bad character design that makes Ravana and Hanuman look like Islamist invaders. The teaser also shows that the sets of the movie are inspired by video games and Hollywood movies a TV shows, and therefore, they do not look like how various places during that age are described in the epic Ramayana.
According to the reports, the petition, filed in Tis Hazari Court by Advocate Raj Gaurav, requests that the movie’s producer and director should erase the allegedly offensive elements of the preview from all social networking sites, including YouTube and Facebook. The lawsuit also seeks direction prohibiting the defendants from representing Lord Ram, Lord Hanuman, and Ravana in the manner represented in the offensive promo of the film in question. The film is scheduled to be released on January 12, 2023.
“The defendants have hurt the religious, cultural, historical, and civilizational sentiments of the plaintiff and other Hindus by the depiction of Hindu gods Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman in a very unwarranted and inaccurate way in the teaser or promotional video of their upcoming movie Adipurush. The defendants in the garb of free speech and expression cannot manipulate the basics of epic Ramayana which is part of plaintiff’s culture, civilization and spirituality and religion”, the plea read.
As per the petition, while the traditional picture of Lord Ram is of a serene and tranquil person, he is portrayed in the film’s trailer as an atrocious, revengeful, and furious person. Instead of a sacred thread, he is shown in one of the scenes wearing a leather strap, and instead of khadaun, he is portrayed wearing contemporary boots or footwear made of leather-like material. Furthermore, the petition contends that Lord Hanuman was shown wearing leather clothes rather than holy thread (janew) in the promo.
The appeal further stated that Ravana’s persona, represented by actor Saif Ali Khan, has been demonstrated to be cheap and horrible. Ravana was a devout follower of Lord Shiva who wore a tilak on his forehead and wore a golden crown, the plea read.
“It is submitted that the portrayal of Ravana in the promo teaser is so horrid that the sentiments of the plaintiff are hurt, he being a brahmin himself, even though Ravana has a villainous character in Ramayana even then he is to be treated with respect being a scholar of Vedas and a genuinely learned”, the plea was quoted.
It has so been urged that the promo be prohibited and withdrawn from the internet immediately due to the defamatory impact and outrage it would bring to Hindus. “That the defendants, if are not stopped from propagating hate towards Hindus with the objectionable depiction of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman, might lead to much furor and uprising among the public at large and may also cause law and order situation in the country. Right now the objectionable promo has caused huge protests across the country and TV debates are laden with this topic”, the plea was quoted.
