Adipurush Movie Review

Prabhas emerged as a pan-India star with Baahubali. Though the craze did not transform his next movie Saaho into a money spinner, Prabhas became the most wanted star for Bollywood filmmakers who finally made Adipurush with him. Adipurush is a huge-budgeted mythological film based on Ramayana, directed by Om Raut and produced by T-Series. 

The first teaser could not receive a great response due to the poor computer-generated imagery, but the movie slowly garnered craze as it reached the release date. Prabhas’s stardom and Lord Rama’s sentiment are doing wonders with the advance bookings for Adipurush. Touted as one of the most expensive Indian films ever made and with stars like Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, and Saif Ali Khan, Adipurush is releasing today all over the world. Here is the review of Adipurush. 

What Is It About?

Based on Valmiki Ramayana, Adipurush is all about Raghava (Prabhas), Janaki (Kriti Sanon) who face threat from demon Ravana (Saif Ali Khan). How Raghava with the help of a Bajrangi aka Hanuman and Sugreeva and army of Vanaras take on Ravana forms the crux of the story. 

Performances

Prabhas performed fine as Raghava. As an ordinary man with no major powers, Raghava’s woes and vulnerability were portrayed well. Some action episodes of him are well made, but rest looked cinematic and artificial. Saif Ali Khan is good as Ravana, he got so much elevation in the film. His Ravana looks are modernized a bit much. He appeared powerful, but it also looked odd when he walks around in the digitally raised giant personality. Kriti is decent but she has a very limited role. Others did fine in their respective roles. Indrajit’s character enthralls for some time in the second half. Sonal Chauhan is seen in just two scenes. Devdatta Nage as Bajrang (Hanuman) is good. 

Technicalities

Adipurush’s first look was denounced, but that must have made the makers focus more on the visuals. The overall visuals are better than the expectation, but there are some scenes which require betterment. The dialogues are alright. Background music stands tall among all in Adipurush and it elevated many scenes. Some scenes, frames, and characterizations remind us of popular movies in Hollywood, like ‘The Planet Of Apes’ among others. But it appeals to kids.

Thumbs Up

Scale & Grandeur 

BGM

First Half

Thumbs Down

Lengthy Climax

VFX Quality In 2D

Analysis

Ramayana is one of the very well-known epics and the story itself is not new. It has been told several times earlier in different forms, but Om Raut wanted to show the Ramayana as a film using modern technology and star faces. It worked to a major extent, but the damage done by CGI work could not be fully rectified. The VFX and CG work in 2D is not impressive. Whereas they are done well in 3D. 

The first half of Adipurush is good with enough drama and an engaging narrative. A decent presentation of the actual story of Ramayana keeps entertaining mostly. 

The second half takes off from a decent first half, but it mainly has the battle and confrontation episodes that have gone overboard with the graphics. Starting from Raghava and his army attacking Ravana’s Lanka and until the end, the whole battle episode is lengthy. It becomes an over-the-top action movie and that too with a lot of VFX work. 

The background music comes to rescue Adipurush from sliding down due to pretty average VFX. Also, most of the movie has a dark ambiance. It might be the color symbolization of the Ravana and Lanka theme, but it is overdone. 

Ravana’s characterization appears a bit awkward to the traditional fans of Ramayana. His fort in Lanka, his attire, and even his armory look like it was heavily inspired by the ‘superhero’ movies. The makers perspective might be correct to make the villain look trendy so as to enthrall the younger generation audiences who are very connected to the character and theme trend. Ravana’s ten heads speaking within themselves before taking a decision is interesting. 

Overall, Adipurush starts as a drama-driven classic tale, but that turns into a lengthy action fest towards the latter half. It might attract children and the family audience who might want to enjoy a Hindu mythological story with a modern presentation. Considering the openings and large screenings across pan India, need to see how audiences receive it. If prepared to watch it, go for a big screen experience and recommended to see it in 3D. 

Bottomline: Modern ‘3D’ Ramayana For New Generation

Rating: 2.75/5