As protests surge across the nation, huge drop expected in Adipurush collection post-weekend

The producers of Adipurush may be laughing all the way to the bank, but those who swear by the Ganga river’s bank are not amused. Ram Bhakts  are deeply affronted by the narrative liberties that the writers  of Adipurush have taken with the original Ramayan especially the language used by the character of Lord Hanuman.

At one point in the vertiginous narrative, he is heard threatening Ravana with these words, “Tel tere baap ka, aag bhi tere baap ki aur jalegi bhi tere baap ki’,

The master-writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla who has written the above dialogue defended his pearls of wisdom:  “A very meticulous thought process that has gone into writing the dialogues for Bajrangbali. We have made it simple because we have to understand one thing that if there are multiple characters in a film, all of them can’t speak the language. There has to be a kind of diversion, a division.”

After he was pulled up for shamelessly defending the indefensible, Shukla  has now gone into hiding. Very soon, other dramatis personae in this grotesque travesty of a film would also have a lot of explaining to do.

For example, why are Twitter users alleging that money is being offered to them to delete their negative comment about Adipurush? They are even sharing screen shots to support their allegation.

While the veracity of the above allegation is not confirmed, this writer can safely disclose that huge amounts of money were spent weeks prior to release to create the impression that Adipurish was a success even before release, that those who did not support the film were not true Hindus. Terms like ‘blockbuster’ were used to describe Adipurush.

After release, it has been a different story. The truth about the film’s shameful subversion of the original text is out. Heated protests have broken out in many parts of the country. In Chhattisgarh's Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district, protestors demand a national ban on Adipurush claiming it is a conspiracy against Sanatan dharma.

An actor who was part of Ramanand Sagar’s long-running series The Ramayan says, “What this film (Adipurush) has done is to bring Ram bhakts even closer to our series than before. Everyone wants to watch our Ramayan again.”