India is just kicking goals lately in terms of high concept, action-packed cinematic spectacle. Western audiences are all still high on the afterglow of the sublime RRR, sure, but that film’s just the tip of the Bollywood iceberg. If you want to recapture some of that heady feeling, make a beeline for your local multiplex because the religious epic Adipurush is in cinemas now.
Based on the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, one of the most important texts in the Hindu faith, Adipurush tells the sprawling tale of Prince Raghava of Ayodhya (Prabhas), in the kingdom of Kosala. Exiled to the forest by his father King Dasharatha (Krishna Kotian) he travels across the land for some 14 years, accompanied his wife, Janaki (Kriti Sanon) and brother, Shesh (Sunny Singh). However, when Janaki is kidnapped by Lankesh (Saif Ali Khan) the king of Lanka, an epic war is inevitable.
Directed by Om Raut, steeped in Indian religious and historical lore, but filtered through a cinematic lens that owes a great debt to Peter Jackson’s treatment of The Lord of the Rings, Adipurush is a massive spectacle of a movie, delivering over-the-top battle scenes, fantastical displays of superhuman power, and the odd engaging song and dance number (it’s a Bollywood film, after all).
It has attracted no small amount of controversy in its home country, though, largely owing to liberties taken with the source material and a certain irreverence towards important figures in the Hindu faith. It’s also been banned in Nepal for reasons too complicated to enter into here, but Wikipedia has a full account.
But “controversial” and “bad” are not synonyms. Is Adipurush the Indian fantasy epic of the year or a disrespectful misfire that that treats its source too lightly? Only you can be the judge, by catching this one at your local cinema.
