Adipurush has everyone talking. Since its release, the film has been a hot topic of discussion as audiences are highly disappointed in the lead role of Prabhas and Kriti Sanon. Adipurush is facing fierce resistance from all quarters. The audience is annoyed with the way Ramayana is portrayed in the film. We got in touch with actor Aashiesh Sharrma who played Rama in the show Siya Ke Ram. He shared his two cents on the controversy surrounding Adipurush, calling it a lazy, unresearched piece of work. He even talked about the damage control that the creators are trying to do. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
What is your opinion on Adipurush?
My thoughts are quite simple and straight after watching it. It’s a very lazy, completely non-scientific piece of work. And it squarely adjusts the Scripture in its entirety. And it changes the story, which I don’t think is appropriate because we don’t have that kind of freedom and command to literally rewrite our writings. It’s almost like we’re rewriting our scriptures. Because nowadays film and literature have always been the best tools and mediums to pass on our cultural heritage and history to the next generation. Now that we know that our current generation is leaving books behind, content is currently the most important medium for passing on our cultural heritage to the next generation. And so it is also claimed that the film is made for the next generation. So when we claim to be making something for the next generation, the responsibility becomes even greater to take it forward in its real form and real story. And in saying that, with a flimsy excuse like creative freedom, we’re modifying the core ourselves. So then I guess it’s a criminal offense I guess.
What do you have to say about Prabhas as Lord Ram?
It has nothing to do with the actor. It has to do with how it was conceived. The actor can only do and add what has been handed to him or breathed into him. So I think it’s very poorly conceived to begin with. It looks like it was made with WhatsApp forwards. Yes, that’s literally what it sounds like. The dialogues are like that, the characterizations are like that. It seems that the intent was wrong since the beginning. Because when we make something like that, especially in Bharat, when we make something on Lord Ram, the sentiment behind Sri Ram is huge. He is not just a revered deity. It is embedded in our DNA. It is embedded in our daily lives. It’s like our hello is also Ram Ram. That’s how deep he runs into our DNA, cultural DNA. So if we’re going to make something about that, we should at least stay true to its portrayal. The image is written in the scriptures. In every version of Ramayana it is written very clearly what Lord Ram looked like and how Lord Ram behaved. What were his characterizations, everything he embodied. It is very clearly stated in the scriptures. So I think at least we should have, if they followed it up that much it would have been fine. But then I think it’s just made on WhatsApp forwards. It looks like that.
Thoughts on Lankesh/Raavan from Adipurush…
No character is as described in the epic. Raavan, Sita, Lakshman, Hanumanji, Bali, Sugriv, Vibhishan, Meghnath. None of them are as described in Scripture. Raavan, I don’t know what’s going on. Raavan was never a villain. Ram and Raavan were both sides of one coin. So that’s what Ramayana says. If you embody the qualities that Aries stood for, you become Aries. And if you embody what Raavan stood for, you become Raavan. Because they were both equally knowledgeable and equally excellent warriors. But as Raavan had pride and ego in his knowledge, he became Raavan. And Ram was humble and he had humility in its place and the knowledge made him more humble. So that’s why he was Aries. That’s the fundamental difference. But Raavan was never necessarily the bad guy.
Do you think creators focused more on VFX than the script?
That’s the biggest drawback of the movie. I think today’s filmmakers, whatever I know, have a problem with all kinds of content that we see, especially on the big screen. I really want to emphasize this. Large screens have failed again and again over the years to show an authentic representation of any historical and mythological representation. I have not seen one authentic representation of a historical image on the big screen. And when people downgrade the small screen, the small screen has been the greatest medium to represent our history and mythology in the most authentic way. Since time immemorial. When we talk about it today, Mahabharata and Ramayana are the greatest examples and they were made in the 80’s. And since then TV has been the greatest medium to represent things authentically. Because they are proud of it. The problem with today’s filmmakers, what I see, is that we see ourselves from a Western point of view. The entire film looks at our own writings from a very Western point of view. Take West’s technique, but tell our content. That should be the process now
Do you think Adipurush deserves the criticism?
I think it’s a very complicated situation. From my point of view, I can say that no filmmaker or actor would have a plan to make a bad movie. Even from the commercial angle, every filmmaker would like to make a successful movie, a good movie that will make money at the box office, or that will simply impress the audience. That is everyone’s intention. But then I think what reflects badly on the content is the lazy approach to the content, and having too much faith in the content, or sometimes taking the audience for granted. In regards to Adipurush, I feel like the movie was made with a very lazy, over-the-top approach. You know, this wave is going on, let’s monetize it and give it to the public. People would love it because it’s just Shri Ram and they would love it. So these apologies also come that we will change the dialogue or this was Ramayan before and later it’s an edit of Ramayan. These are very ignorant excuses, still trying to hide. If you screwed up, you screwed up. And accept that, okay. And I feel strongly that if you made something like that, in a country like India, if you actually make a statement and say we’re sorry we hesitated, we’re sorry we’re human and we hesitated, people would forgive you. I think the backlash got even bigger when they started hiding their mistakes. Don’t justify it because it’s overt, you can’t hide those mistakes, these are so obvious. And when the common man says it, respect their feeling, respect what they say. Don’t try to justify the mistake to the public, because they show, and they tell you by action, by not buying the ticket. And they tell you this is wrong. So respect that feeling and say sorry to them because at the end of the day they are the decision makers.
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