Hours after Om Raut’s Adipurush, starring Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon, hit the theatres, the movie has run into trouble. Vishnu Gupta, National President of the Hindu Sena has filed a PIL against the movie, asserting that it has mocked the Hindu epic Ramayana, Hindu God and Goddesses and the Hindu culture.
Hindu Sena National President files PIL in #DelhiHighCourt seeking removal of alleged “objectionable scenes” in #Adipurush film relating to “Ravana, Lord Ram, Mata Sita and Hanuman.”
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) June 16, 2023
Scenes are contrary to depictions of religious characters as found in Ramayana, the plea states. pic.twitter.com/Hage83gFjG
The plea seeks directions to remove the objectionable scenes related to the Hindu gods Ram, Ravana, Sita and Hanuman. It alleged that the depiction of these deities in the film is inaccurate and inappropriate and contrary to depictions of religious characters as found in Ramayana.
Hindus have a distinctive view of the images of Lord Ram, Sita, and Hanuman, and the plea contended that any alteration or tampering with those images by movie producers, directors, or performers would be a violation of their fundamental rights.
The plea stated that the scenes show the religious characters in bad taste and are an absolute insult to Hindu civilization, Hindu religious figures, idols, etc.
Slamming the makers of Adipurush for distorting the image of the revered Hindu deities, Vishnu Gupta stated in the PIL that the hairstyle, beard and dress are well-defined as per the image created in epics. Any variation by film producers, directors and actors would certainly hurt the sentiments of worshipers, devotees and religious believers, he stated.
“Therefore, such feature films may not be permitted for public exhibition until corrective measures are taken by the film producers and directors,” the PIL read.
“Distorted public exhibition of Hindu religious figures by film Adipurush is a clear cut violation of freedom of conscience and practice in as much as the freedom to manage religious affairs as guaranteed under Article 26 which is also violated,” PIL added.
The Hindu Sena urged the Union Government and the Central Board Of Film Certification to not permit any filmmaker to publicly exhibit any feature film “which may tend to disturb public order and secular fabric of the society.”
It added, “The Deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh has also made a public statement not to allow the exhibition of Adipurush which may hurt religious sentiments. Therefore, the implication of its release may have far-reaching consequences if it is passed and cleared for unrestricted exhibition.”
Film Adipurush causes upheavals in Nepal
The movie has also caused a stir in Nepal with the Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah raising objections to dialogue in the film. Balen Shah claimed that the film refers Sita to as the “daughter of India” while she is widely regarded as the “daughter of Nepal.”
As per reports, a dialogue in the movie Adipurush, where Lord Ram (played by Baahubali star Prabhas) is asking the Vanar Sena to fight to save India’s daughter from the captivity of Ravana, has created some controversy in Nepal.
Belen Shah, the Mayor of the Kathmandu metropolitan area had taken a strong objection to Mata Seeta being referred to as ‘India’s daughter’, had asserted that she is, in fact, Nepal’s daughter, and the makers of Aadipurush had been given 3-days time to remove the allegedly controversial dialogue from the movie.
‘Adipurush’ disappoints viewers, gets 1.5-star rating from film critics
Popular film critic Taran Adarsh took to Twitter on Friday (June 16) to review the movie and gave it a disappointing 1.5-star rating. In a tweet, he said, “One-word review: Disappointing. Rating – 1.5 stars. Adipurush is an epic disappointment…Just doesn’t meet the mammoth expectations…Director OmRaut had a dream cast and a massive budget on hand but creates a huge mess. #AdipurushReview.”
A number of moviegoers and bloggers also expressed their displeasure, pointing out the numerous areas where the filmmakers have erred. Some people were offended by the movie’s cringe dialogues, others were irate at how crassly the Hindu mythological characters were depicted. Most were, however, appalled by how the Hindu epic Ramayan was grossly misrepresented in the film.
