Adipurush – which has been one of the most talked-about Indian films since it was announced in August 2020 – has been making headlines ever since it was released last week but for all the wrong reasons. The film – featuring Kriti Sanon and Prabhas in lead roles – has been attracting criticism from several quarters for various aspects including the performances, screenplay, dialogues and VFX. In such a scenario, Kriti Sanon, who plays Janaki in the film has shared a post on Instagram in which she revealed that she is focussing on the positives. She shared a series of pictures and videos of fans cheering as she appeared on-screen in theatres across the country. In the caption, she wrote, “Focusing on the cheers and claps! Jai Siya Ram,” with heart and folded hand emojis.
However, fans are not pleased with the film and presumably Kriti Sanon's response and have made this amply clear in the comments section. While several trolls called for the boycott of the movie, many fans also tried explaining their point of view under the post. One fan said, “Kriti plz accept that the movie was a terrible mistake and move on. One of the worst adaptations of Ramayan I've seen…”
Another user pointed out, “ I don't know how people are saying it's a good movie...the worst version of Ramayan I've ever seen and not only me I hope everyone would agree... The story of Ramayan is completely changed and the high-budget animation and you are focusing on the cheers... you guys have to focus on movie and story making.” “Keep fooling yourself .. shame on you guys ya, seriously,” another disappointed user said.
Offering advice, one fan wrote, “Let this be a lesson and focus more on the script and story and not the money. Money comes and goes but reputation in this industry is hard to maintain.”
“Today I know why Kattappa killed Baahubali.. because he knew that Prabhas will play Lord Rama in Adipurush,” joked another user.
However, Kriti Sanon also received love from fellow Bollywood artists and family on Instagram. Her sister, actress Nupur Sanon said, “Proud of you [heart emojis].” Designer Manish Malhotra also dropped heart emojis in the comments section.
As mentioned above, the makers of Adipurush have come under fire for their lacklustre adaptation of the epic. From lazy to disrespectful, fans have described the film in several ways. Memes ridiculing the film have also gone viral on social media. Such was the negative feedback about the film that Adipurush dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla announced on Sunday that the team would "revise some of the dialogues" that were deemed disrespectful by the viewers. "For me, there is nothing greater than your feelings. I can give countless arguments in favour of my dialogues, but this will not lessen your pain. Me and the producer-director of the film have decided that we will revise some of the dialogues which are hurting you and they will be added to the film this week," an excerpt from Manoj Muntashir's statement on Twitter stated.
About the film, NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee wrote, “Reimagining a mythological epic for the times that we live in is a perfectly permissible exercise as long as the filmmaker is aware that there is a huge difference between adaptation and distortion. Writer-director Om Raut clearly isn't. Adipurush, a bloated and vacuous cinematic version of a part of the Ramayana, does the epic or its civilisation-defining characters no justice at all…Adipurush is part Planet of the Apes, part King Kong, and part all the Hollywood superhero movies that the director and his ilk have been weaned on. It presents Lord Rama (Prabhas) as a comic book hero with a bow and a quiver that never runs out of arrows, Sita (Kriti Sanon) as a whimpering damsel in distress, Ravana as a cross between Thanos and Voldemort, and Bajrang/Hanuman (Devdatta Nage) as a mighty acrobat barely aware of his incredible powers until somebody reminds him that he can leap across a sea.”
Adipurush has been produced by T-Series and Retrophiles and is touted to have been made on a budget of ₹500 crores. The film, as per Box Office India, has recorded a three-day collection of ₹105 crores (net collection).