What are the box office odds against Adipurush?
From its shoddy VFX to mythological inaccuracies, Adipurush has a lot going against it (photo-DailyO)
Adipurush, the latest adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayan, has been sailing on troubled waters ever since its first-ever teaser dropped in October, 2022. Even though producers and exhibitors involved with the Prabhas-starrer are leaving no stone unturned in building hype for the mythological epic ahead of its release on June 16 (Friday), Adipurush’s box office success can be limited with numerous challenges.
Even promotional tactics like booking one seat in every theater for “Lord Hanuman” and celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor booking 10,000 tickets for underprivileged children can be futile if Adipurush fails to meet the concerns that it had been garnering since last year.
The VFX are still meme fodder
The biggest grievance that netizens had with Adipurush’s first teaser were the shoddy VFX. Indians are still self-aware to not compare Indian cinema’s special effects with that of Hollywood but one would expect better from one of the country’s most expensive films (reportedly made at a budget of Rs 500 crore).
From the CGI “vannar sena” (army of apes) to even Prabhas’ very artificial-looking abs, the first teaser underwent a lot of trolling. Director Om Raut still promised to improve on the VFX and its 2022 release window was postponed to a June 2023 release. And still, the new trailers from May failed to win over any new fans for its special effects.
These days, more than half of an average Marvel movie is also made against a green screen. Adipurush seems to follow the same route but its virtual environments seem a little too fake to look believable. Further, Hanuman and the apes continue looking as artificial as they were in the earlier teasers. In comparison, it can be argued that big-budget pan-Indian hits like RRR, Baahubali series and even Bollywood’s Brahmastra have looked way better in visual terms.
What could have been a celebration of Ramayan on an IMAX screen is bound to disappoint some already, especially those who wouldn’t want to spend on a childish VFX experience.
Some social media users are already desiring for the celebrated anime adaptation of Ramayan to be re-released as that would play out as a much more artistic visual saga.
Mythological inaccuracies might disappoint the Hindu demographic
Considering it is based on one of the most venerated texts of Hinduism, Adipurush obviously would eye the Hindu demographic as its most important viewer base. Unfortunately, mythology and religion aficionados started nitpicking blatant inaccuracies in the film from the start itself.
While some took offense with Saif Ali Khan’s Raavan being characterised like an “Islamic ruler”, others questioned the leather straps that Hanuman wears as leather is mostly prohibited in Hindu temples and other places of worship. Similarly, Prabhas’ Ram sporting a moustache similarly came under fire as there have been hardly any previous depiction of the clean-shaven god as having a moustache.
Even the latest trailer depicts the vulture Jatayu as an eagle. Even though Jatayu is a minor character in the epic, his role is crucial as he attempts to protect Sita from Raavan’s clutches and dies at the latter’s hand. Replacing him with a brown eagle seems like yet another absurd creative liberty.
Coming to Raavan, the evil king is also seen riding in what seems like a dragon from a cheap Game of Thrones rip-off. Is Ravaan's mystical flying chariot Pushpak replaced by a bat-dragon hybrid now?
If Adipurush is filled with many such differences, the viewers expecting a faithful Ramayan adaptation are bound to be disappointed.
Prabhas is the poster boy of pan-Indian big-budget failures
While the two Baahubali films proved to be major money-makers in Indian cinema, Prabhas could never replicate that success anytime he attempted to star in any other pan-Indian film. The action thriller Saaho which was released in multiple languages included Prabhas’ native tongue Telugu and heroine Shraddha Kapoor’s language Hindi, was only an average grosser when compared to its budget of Rs 350 crore. The film could finally collect somewhere between 407 and 439 crores (less than a 100 crore more than the budget).
Similarly, when the Prabhas-led romantic drama Radhe Shyam grossed Rs 200-214 crore against a budget of Rs 300-350 crore. It must also be noted that both Saaho and Radhe Shyam were mostly subjected to negative reactions and the pan-Indian release couldn’t be capitalised as well as Baahubali.
Now, with Adipurush being the next big Prabhas film, will the Telugu actor finally be able to break his unsuccessful streak?
People are too familiar with the Ramayan lore
The story of Ram’s exile and eventual rescue of Sita by winning over Ravaan, this narrative has been rehashed multiple times for numerous Indian TV series, animated films and comics. For those who are all too familiar with the epic, they would have no good reason to watch Adipurush on the big screen.
Even the ones who have forgotten the Ramayan or aren’t acquainted with the epic at all, the tediously long trailer of Adipurush almost gives away the entire movie (from Sita’s abduction to Hanuman lifting the mountain of the Sanjeevani herb to Ram and his army reaching Sri Lanka on a bridge of stones). Which movie trailer clocks almost at three-and-a-half minutes these days?
And with a planned duration of 3 hours, Adipurush will have a lot to do to entertain its audiences. In terms of plot, it can’t offer any plot twists as it promises to be a faithful adaptation of the story of Ram. The effects are bound to generate more memes. So, what new would Adipurush have to offer its viewers? Friday will tell us.