Adipurush Movie Review: Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan's Film is a CGI Mess That Does Lanka-Dahan Of Our Senses (LatestLY Exclusive)

Adipurush Movie Review: Is Adipurush any good? Does it live up to expectations, despite its less-than-stellar trailers? Does Prabhas finally shine after some average outings since Baahubali 2? Has director Om Raut really polished the VFX, for which the film had been delayed for several months? Do the overindulgent PR activities push for a good product? Finally, does Adipurush do any justice to the mythos of Lord Ram, Goddess Sita and Lord Hanuman? Adipurush Movie Review: From ‘Okayish to Worst VFX’, Prabhas – Kriti Sanon’s Film’s Special Effects Garner Mixed Reactions From Fans.

The answer to all these questions is a resounding NO. Adipurush is the kind of film that makes you think Brahmastra is a masterpiece, and I had little opinion of that film, which you can see in my review here. It is a movie that overextends itself by attempting something beyond its capacity, and then fails miserably in the process. Even more unfortunate is that Adipurush is also a big bore, never compelling the viewer to get involved in its albeit admirable rambunctiousness and rousing background score.

The Ramayana is a complex mythology that people often take a very simplistic view of. For me, I see it as a tale of not just valour, but also of tragedy, of a godly prince caught in a moral dilemma of standing by his principles and the people he loves, and the ramifications of the choices that he makes. But for many, the Ramayana is simply a story of good vs evil, which ends with the vanquishing of Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

Om Raut's rendition of the Ramayana in Adipurush is also focused on the latter, with no time for nuance or character development. As the disclaimer at the beginning of Adipurush kindly states, the film expects you to know the backstories, the metaphors and the character motivations beforehand, as it is more invested in its VFX-laden journey of Lord Ram going to Lanka to defeat Ravana and bring back Sita with his army of vaanar-sena.

Watch the Trailer of Adipurush:

So, if you have kids with you, be prepared to explain why the Vanar Sena needed to praise Hanuman of his own might. Or why Ravana (Saif Ali Khan) didn't touch Sita (Kriti Sanon) when she was in Ashoka Vatika. Or why a lower-caste old woman (Shabari) chose to self-immolate after meeting Lord Ram (Prabhas). Or why Vibhishana instantly betrayed his elder brother and joined the enemy forces.

Meanwhile, I have some of my own questions. Why does the film insist on calling Sita, Laxman (Sunny Singh) and Ram as Janki, Sesh and Raghav? I know these are their alternative names, but when you have a background score blaring 'Jai Shri Ram' whenever they show Raghav, this change in name sounds confusing.

Why did Ravana ditch his Pushpaka Vimana and ride on an ugly-ass bat everywhere? Why is Meghnad aka Indrajit (Vatsal Seth) having Quicksilver-powers while at one point his tattooed body makes him look like Baldur from God of War (do read why he is called Meghnad to understand his actual powers)? Why is Ravana's hairstyle so... modern? Why is the second half looking so gloomy and dreary in its visual atmosphere? Why is Hanuman the only human-looking vaanar, while the rest look like rejects of King Louie's army in The Jungle Book's live-action remake? Why is the mere act of walking shown either in slow-motion or as if you are entering the WWE arena? Why is Ravana's army filled with ogres and trolls borrowed from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter? And finally, why did the makers spend so many crores in the publicity when a fraction of that could have improved upon the dreary VFX, especially in the second half?

If I have to be fair to the film, then Adipurush does have a couple of positives. At least the first half, or rather the first half of the first half, deceives you into thinking that there is work done to improve the VFX, even if everything looks like brightened greenscreens. The Jatayu vs Ravana on a bat chase is very decent. I loved the Gothic aesthetics of the "Shivoham" song - the statues of Lankesh singing was quite a sight. Among the cast, Devdatta Nage stands out as Hanuman, the actor adds a touch of enjoyable mischief in the role even if the VFX often ends up distracting us from his performance. The background score, when not deafening, at least does better improve some dull scenes. Adipurush Tribeca World Premiere Cancelled? Prabhas-Kriti Sanon's Movie Mysteriously Disappears From Film Festival's 2023 Lineup!

However, Adipurush began to lose me as a viewer right from the Bali vs Sugreev fight scene. The animation lacked the oomph to make you believe they were real characters. This is also exactly why the second half, which feels like an elongated climax, turns out to be a dull affair. The director over-indulges in struggling CGI in an attempt to create visual spectacles, but instead bores us with artificial visuals. Indrajit's death scene is actually hilarious with its poor visual effects rendering underwater scenes.

Moreover, Adipurush fails to mesh the modern touches given to the aesthetics with Manoj Muntashir's ancient, inconsistently written, dialogues. Some of the lines, especially spoken during the Indrajit-Hanuman confrontation scene in Lanka, are already going viral for all the wrong reasons.

Even the actors, save for the aforementioned Devdatta Nage, could do little to salvage their performances. Prabhas's acting is more about preening and striking majestic poses for the camera. This is a surprisingly dispassionate performance from the actor, whose presence clearly invokes comparisons with the far superior Baahubali movies. Kriti Sanon and Sunny Singh are just about decent, as their roles don't allow them to do much. Despite the buildup, Saif Ali Khan give his weakest negative performance to date here. At least his previous negative turns were either well-written characters, like in Ek Hasina Thi, Omkara, Being Cyrus or Tandav, or he was entertainingly hammy enough to be the best part of the film, like Tanhaji (also directed by Om Raut).

Here, his Lankesh is very much a cartoonish villain, made even more so by the special effects given to his character to make him look like an overblown figure. I'd rather say less about his ten CGI heads, for the sake of not having nightmares.

Final Thoughts

Adipurush is a classic case of chewing more than it could eat and then choking up in swallowing the food whole. The attempt to create a larger-than-life canvas to re-immortalise a well-loved mythology falls flat thanks to its over-indulgence on using inconsistently-rendered VFX, disappointing fight scenes, and average performances. Simply put, Adipurush does a Lanka-dahan of our senses.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 16, 2023 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).