Film Adipurush, the cinematic adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana starring Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon in lead roles has tanked at the box office after receiving severe backlash from the audience for its distortions, cheap dialogue and pathetic visual effects. Amidst the controversy, the executive director of Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir Cinema in Mumbai, Manoj Desai has lambasted the Adipurush makers for playing with the sentiments of the audience making a mockery of Ramayana. He even opined that the makers of the film Adipurush should be jailed.
“We thought the film will be a super hit…Ramayana is not written like this. The way the film has showcased lord Hanuman & Ravana is unacceptable. How can Kriti Sanon be Sita…Everywhere the film shows are getting cancelled. The makers of the film should be jailed.,” Desai said.
Mumbai, Maharashtra | Manoj Desai, Executive director of Gaiety Galaxy & Maratha Mandir cinema on the movie 'Adipurush'… said, "We thought the film will be a super hit…Ramayana is not written like this. The way the film has showcased lord Hanuman & Ravana is unacceptable. How… pic.twitter.com/864GHTnpWv
— ANI (@ANI) June 23, 2023
Desai stated that the Om Raut directorial had not yet arrived but had already been rejected by the audience. They were screening Adipurush with only 30-40 people in the theatre because there were no other films to show.
Manoj Desai said that he expected Adipurush to be packed because it was based on Ramayana, but the film fell short of all of the expectations. He recollected sitting in front of a black-and-white television to see Ramanand Sagar’s iconic Ramayana.
Lamenting over the losses suffered by him due to Adipurush’s box office failure, Desai said that although the controversial dialogues in the film have been changed, however, it is of no use now as the negative word of mouth has spread and people are not coming to theatres.
“By today or tomorrow, the film will be removed from the cinema halls. We have suffered many losses. All theatres have incurred losses. They have changed dialogues but it’s too late…The people are very angry. We have decreased the price of the tickets but still, people are not coming,” Desai added.
The Gaiety Galaxy executive director was even upset with actor Prabhas over the sharp contrast between how he looked in the blockbuster film Bahubali and how he looked in Adipurush.
Moreover, Desai slammed Manoj Muntashir for writing “Chhapri” dialogues for the film’s characters. He criticised Muntashir for defending such cringe dialogues instead of apologising to the audience.
“Maafi maangni chahiye. Lekin inko to bhagwan bhi maaf nahi karega Inko insaan maaf nahi karega. Inko janta maaf nahi karegi. Ye kahin ke nahin rahe iss picture ke baad mai likh kar de sakta hu (They should apologise but even the God and humans won’t forgive them. After this film, they are finished, i can give this in writing),” Desai asserted.
Expressing his utter disappointment over Lord Hanuman’s dialogues in the film, Desai said that if actor Dara Singh who played Lord Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, was alive, he would have thrashed the hell out of Adipurush team.
Desai further took a jibe a the Adipurush makers’ decision to leave one seat empty to honour Lord Hanuman as he said that the entire theatres are going empty which seat are the makers reserving for Lord hanuman.
Notably, the movie which was off to a great start with 200 crore in its first weekend raked only 10 crore on June 20. It experienced a startling drop of 75% on Monday and a subsequent decline on the next day.
In August last year, Manoj Desai castigated actor Vijay Deverakonda for his “arrogance”. He slammed Vijay Deverakonda for his comments on the boycott trends as his film Liger was released. Liger, one of the most anticipated movies of 2022, had registered a disastrous opening on its first day.
