New Delhi: Actor and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson Malavika Avinash has slammed the teaser of director Om Raut’s Adipurush, which dropped on Sunday. The highly-anticipated teaser hasn’t been welcomed with open arms, with many calling out the makers of slashing the originality of the epic Ramayana, on which the film is based.
The KGF actress criticised the “misinterpretation” of the Ramayana and the portrayal of Ravana, played by Saif Ali Khan in the upcoming period drama. Malavika, in a conversation with ANI, spoke about the portrayal of Ravana and said, “I am saddened by the fact that the director, let alone researching the Valmiki’s Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana or Tulsidasa’s Ramayana, or the umpteen numbers of interpretations of Ramayana that are available across board as far as Thailand, where they do beautiful performances of the Ramayana (sic). The least he could have done is gone back and researched our own films; there are so many Kannada films, Telugu films, Tamil films, which show how Ravana looked.”
According to the actress, the Tanhaji director should have looked up NT Rama Rao or Dr Rajkumar in Bhookailasa. As a reference to Ravana’s appearance, she continued to promote SV Ranga Rao in Sampoorna Ramayana. The 46-year-old lambasted Raut’s portrayal of Ravana as he appears in the film “Nothing Indian, with blue eye makeup and leather clothes. They are reflecting our history; they cannot do so under the pretence of creative liberty,” she added.
Malavika shared that “Ramayana is who we were.” She added, “It represents this nation, its civilisation and its people. So no one can take it for granted, let alone a film director. I am angry and I am saddened by this misrepresentation”.
There were some shots of Ravan’s army among the profusion of misplaced, weird, and cheap Hollywood horror movie-inspired graphics. Surprisingly, Ravan appears to have an army of skeletal, rotten demons that resemble a cross between Harry Potter’s Dementors and Game of Thrones’ wights, skeletal animating zombies. These, on the other hand, can fly.
