There have been boycott calls for Hindi movies for the last few months now. The complaint or the anger of the Hindu community is that Bollywood is not often, but whenever it is possible it shows Hindu dharma in a bad light. Apart from that the actors too in their personal life insult Hinduism and do not regret when the sentiments of Hindus are hurt. So, an average Indian movie watcher got excited when he saw movies like Baahubali and RRR of South India and suddenly he saw a savior of Indian culture in Indian cinemas in the South Indian movies. But the Adipurush teaser which was released two days back came as a shock for them.
Befor two days, many social media users were of the opinion that South Indian cinema can only understand Hindu culture and present it in the best way possible. This is partially correct because the person who knows how South Indian politics has divided Hindus since independence is any clue then Hindus are most vulnerable in that part of India. But yes their movies when they are made on the subject of Indian culture remain honest mostly. Adipurush although directed by a Bollywood director but has Prabhas in it as a lead character of Ram, and being made in both Hindi and Telugu simultaneously one can safely say that it has that tinge of South Indian flavor.
Whatever the case may be, for the last many months social media was going gaga over Adipurush and how important it will be for the Indian movie industry, and how it will almost kill Bollywood. But after watching the Adipurush Trailer two days back, all those who were making noise about it are in a sound shock. It is not about the poor VFX that the teaser has exposed, but it is how Ram and other characters of this Hindu epic have been portrayed is hurting them and almost every one of us.
Ram who is played by Prabhas sounded a perfect choice previously but now he doesn’t look like Ram at all after watching this teaser. If you know Ram and Ramayan better than anybody else, then you are aware that Ram although defeated Ravan in the ultimate battle, was actually of a very cool and calm nature, and that very nature of his always reflected on his face. But, in the Adipurush teaser, Prabhas looks like a macho man and can see no calmness on his face, even when he is seen with Sita (played by Kriti Sanon) in one scene he doesn’t look like representing Ram whom we all know.
As we all are aware that we are living in Kalyug and in Kalyug bad rules are everywhere and probably that is why after this teaser got released people are talking about Ravan (played by Saif Ali Khan) more than Ram who is the hero of the movie. Ravan although a devil or evil ruler of Lanka, was a Brahmin, pundit, and was a staunch bhakt of Bhagwan Shiv. The look of the Ravan in Adipurush just doesn’t match what the actual Ravan was. There are many conclusions on how Saif Ali Khan is looking as Ravan making rounds on social media, but I don’t want to bring them here. All in all in trying to give Saif or Ravan a modern look the makers of Adipurush have made him look stupid and to be honest a non-Hindu.
The same goes with Hanuman, although in this teaser we haven’t been able to see the character of Hanuman much, whatever we have seen is again extremely disappointing. If this was not enough the ‘Vanar Sena’ of Ram has been shown as an army of Apes. This wasn’t the case during the era of Ramayan. The Vanars were not actually monkeys, they may look like one, but actually, they were humans. But over here again in making Adipurush relevant to the current generation the makers have turned Vanars into Apes.
Those who always praise South Indian movies or in that case legitimate movies based on Hindu culture and were asking for a complete boycott of Bollywood are also now demanding a boycott of Adipurush. Poor guys, I must say because the fact remains that boycotting a huge industry like Bollywood is next to impossible. If you want Bollywood to be pure and respect all religions equally then the armor of boycott should be used judiciously as it was used for Lal Singh Chaddha. If you want each and every Bollywood movie to be boycotted then it will not work.
Because, the real India lives in the middle-class and the Indian middle-class has only cricket, movies, and food for its entertainment after living a stressful life all day or all week. It will not obey your boycott call each and every time for sure. One day you support movies like Adipurush before even watching it and the next day after watching its teaser you call for its boycott, the middle-class of India will leave you alone as it will feel that you are not serious about your cause.
Recently we have also watched the trailer of the movie ‘Hindutva’ and by the trailer itself, one can sense that it is a very poorly made movie. One would also feel that this movie is made just to cash in the Hindu sentiments prevailing right now against those Bollywood movies that are insulting Hindu dharma time and again. This movie will again become the biggest disservice to the Hindus and their sentiments along with Adipurush.
If you really want to connect with Hindu sentiments and their inner anger, then you should create or produce a movie like The Kashmir Files. Again it wasn’t a brilliantly made movie, it had its flaws but the treatment of the movie was such that it shook the Hindu sentiments across India within no time. Despite getting released on a few screens the theatre and multiplex owners were forced to increase the number of screens within a few days of its release. That should be the power of the Hindu ecosystem and not these fake sentimental movies like Hindutva and Adipurush where the premier intention is to earn millions and not serve the subject.
Along with many, I am very much disappointed with the Adipurush teaser, although I wasn’t expecting anything out of it. The reason for my disappointment is that there was a huge chance to honor Hindu sentiments with some creative power and that has been lost pathetically by the makers of Adipurush. I wonder how things will turn out when the actual trailer is released and later the movie. Let us all wait for both of them right?
4th October 2022, Tuesday
Ahmedabad
SiddTalks
