More than three years after Adipurush sparked widespread backlash, writer Manoj Muntashir has candidly reflected on the controversy. Calling the film the “biggest mistake” of his life, he admitted its dialogues were crass and that the film failed to do justice to Lord Ram and Hanuman. He also apologised to the country and acknowledged that defending the film was an even bigger mistake.
Manoj Muntashir on Adipurush backlash
“In the beginning, I was a bit dismissive. It took me two days to understand. Adipurush was the biggest mistake of my life, and defending that film was an even bigger mistake. Whatever happened around the film, I’m very ashamed of it, and I beg the forgiveness of this country for all that happened,” Manoj told Times Now.
Acknowledging his mistakes, Manoj said, “We couldn’t do justice to Lord Ram and Hanuman with this film.” The writer further addressed the criticism surrounding the film’s dialogues and added, “The dialogues were extremely crass. I wrote them, and I admit they were bad. When I look back today, I feel deeply ashamed. I don’t know why I wrote them. What was I even thinking?”
Recalling the initial backlash following Adipurush poster launch, he said, “We all sat down after that. I trusted the makers and defended them. When the film was criticised, the makers asked me to speak to the audience. As soon as Neelam heard that, she said, ‘You won’t be the face of this film. You’re just the lyricist and dialogue writer.’ That had already been decided by the makers. But I didn’t listen. Maybe I was arrogant. I assumed that if they had made a film worth Rs 600 crore and wanted me to represent it, I should.”
More about Adipurush
Made on a reported budget of around Rs 600 crore, Adipurush was one of the most expensive Indian films ever produced. It was released in theatres on June 16, 2023. The film starred Prabhas as Raghava (Lord Rama), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (Sita), Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Ravana), Sunny Singh as Shesh (Lakshmana), and Devdatta Nage as Bajrang (Hanuman).
Based on the Hindu epic Ramayana, Adipurush faced immense backlash upon its release for allegedly distorting the source material. Audiences criticised the film’s dialogues as well as its portrayal of Ravana and Lord Hanuman.
