Manoj Muntashir, who wrote the dialogues for the movie Adipurush, has said that the ‘problematic’ dialogues of the movie will be replaced. This follows a day after he had defended the dialogues after there was massive outrage over the language used by the characters in the movie based on Ramayana, especially lines spoken by the character of Hanuman.
Released on the 16th of June, Adipurush has found itself stuck in one controversy after another. At the centre of it lies the ‘problematic’ dialogues including those attributed to Hanuman, named Bajrang in Adipurush. Now, Adipurush’s writer Manoj Muntashir has come out publicly to address those concerns.
Following widespread criticism, Muntashir has announced that the problematic dialogues of Adipurush will be revised within this week itself. He shared this announcement through his official Twitter handle. However, he claimed that the team created Adipurush for Sanatan Seva, which audiences are seeing in large numbers and will keep seeing in the future as well.
Message from Adipurush’s writer Manoj Muntashir
In his tweet, Muntashir claimed that the first lesson anyone can learn from Ramakatha is to respect every emotion. He added that with time, right and wrong keep changing and only feeling remains. He asserted that he wrote more than 4000 lines in Adipurush and out of those, 5 lines hurt the sentiments of some people.
Muntashir claimed that he deserved praise for hundreds of lines where he glorified Shri Ram, and described Maa Sita’s chastity but he got none of it. He further claimed that instead of praises his own brothers (fans or Twitter supporters) wrote indecent words for him.
Further, he expressed, “The same people who I regarded as my own, for whom I recited poems in honor of their respected mothers on television, directed indecent words towards my own mother.”
Highlighting the fact that he wrote songs like ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Shivoham’, and ‘Ram Siya Ram’ in the same film, he claimed that it was quick and inappropriate to label him as Sanatan-Drohi.
Muntashir added that the team has created Adipurush for Sanatan Seva, which audiences are seeing in large numbers and will keep seeing in the future as well.
Respecting the feelings of the fans, he said, “..for me there is nothing greater than your feeling. I can give countless arguments in favor of my dialogues, but this will not reduce your pain. Me and the producer-director of the film have decided that some of the dialogues which are hurting you, We’ll revise them, and they’ll be added to the film this week.”
रामकथा से पहला पाठ जो कोई सीख सकता है, वो है हर भावना का सम्मान करना.
— Manoj Muntashir Shukla (@manojmuntashir) June 18, 2023
सही या ग़लत, समय के अनुसार बदल जाता है, भावना रह जाती है.
आदिपुरुष में 4000 से भी ज़्यादा पंक्तियों के संवाद मैंने लिखे, 5 पंक्तियों पर कुछ भावनाएँ आहत हुईं.
उन सैकड़ों पंक्तियों में जहाँ श्री राम का यशगान…
What was the controversy?
Adipurush makers drew flakes from fans and the general public alike for using uncouth language in Adipurush. Several dialogues of Adipurush went viral on social media where netizens claimed that they demeaned, trivialised Hindu Mahakavya Ramayana, and hurt the sentiments of Hindus.
In the film, there are several characters that have used street-level language like “Bete”, “Tere Baap ki Jali” and ”Bua ka Bagicha” among others. A few of those dialogues are as follows –
“कपड़ा तेरे बाप का! तेल तेरे बाप का! जलेगी भी तेरे बाप की”
“तेरी बुआ का बगीचा है क्या जो हवा खाने चला आया”
“जो हमारी बहनों को हाथ लगाएंगे उनकी लंका लगा देंगे”
“आप अपने काल के लिए कालीन बिछा रहे हैं”
“मेरे एक सपोले ने तुम्हारे शेषनाग को लंबा कर दिया अभी तो पूरा पिटारा भरा पड़ा है”
Earlier, Muntashir defended his approach and asserted that he intentionally crafted relatable dialogues to connect with the audience. The makers also claimed that they had not altered the original Ramayana. However, when the controversy spiralled they claimed that Adipurush is not an adaptation of Ramayana rather it is heavily inspired by Ramayana.
Despite intense criticism and fans registering their protests, Adipurush has entered Rs 200 crore club.
Manoj Muntashir had defended the dialogues
Earlier, Manoj Muntashir had defended the use of uncivilized dialogues, claiming that a very meticulous thought process has gone into writing the dialogues. In an interview given to Republic, he had said that it was not an error, and it was done deliberately. He stated that he wrote the dialogues keeping the ‘modern, contemporary’ speaking styles of the general public in the country.
Talking on Lallantop, he even went on to compare the controversy with the opposition faced by poet Tulsidas for writing Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi language instead of Sanskrit.
