Adipurush is Om Raut‘s take on the Ramayana by Valmiki which has Young Rebel star Prabhas and Kriti Sanon in the lead roles. Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon, and Sunny Singh play the characters of Lord Rama, Ravana, Sita, and Laxmana in the mythological film slated to release in cinemas in January next year. The teaser and the first poster of Adipurush were unveiled on the banks of the river Sarayu in the holy city of Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. After watching the teaser, now netizens are trending the hashtag #BoycottAdipurush on the microblogging platform. The reasons behind the boycott, as claimed by the netizens, are the terrible VFX, Prabhas and Saif Ali Khan being portrayed exactly opposite to how Lord Ram and Ravana are described in Ramayana.
Several netizens have compared Saif Ali Khan’ look in the film with that of Alauddin Khilji rather than Ravan. Actor and BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash has also slammed filmmaker Om Raut for misrepresentation of Ramayana and the way he has presented the character of Ravana in the teaser of Adipurush.
BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash took to her Twitter and wrote: Ravana,a Shiva-Bhakta Brahmin from Lanka had mastered the 64 arts!Jaya(Vijay) who was guarding Vaikunta descended as Ravana owing to a curse! This may be a Turkish tyrant but is not Ravana! Bollywood,Stop misrepresenting our Ramayana/History!Ever heard of the legend NTRamaRao?
She added, “Om Raut could have just looked up NTR or Dr Rajkumar in Bhookailasa or SV Ranga Rao in ‘Sampoorna Ramayana’, to understand how Ravana looked. The Raavana in the photograph that I see floating around is a guy who looks nothing Indian, who has blue eye makeup and is wearing leather jackets. I am angry and saddened by this misrepresentation.”