Adipurush is Om Raut’s interpretation of the epic Ramayana. The film glosses over Rama’s childhood, his adventures as a student, the Seeta swayamwar episode and other instances that took place before his vanvas (exile). It starts directly with the abduction of Seeta by Ravana. Then it depicts the war Ram fought to get Seeta back.

Rama is called Raghav here, Seeta is Janki, Laxmana is Shesh, and Hanuman is Bajrang. Ravana too is sometimes called Lankesh. Raut’s inspiration for Lanka stems from the Lord Of The Rings films. It’s based on the worst place on Middle Earth – Mordor. Ravana’s palace feels like it’s a replica of Sauron’s tower. His soldiers consist of orcs and trolls. It’s always gloomy in Lanka. It’s shrouded in storm clouds. Ravana is also the master of bats for some reason and rides a giant sized bat to battle. Being a battle mage, he has a plethora of supernatural weapons at his disposal. He’s also giant sized and dwarfs everyone else in the film.

We’re used to a certain gravitas when it comes to the depiction of epics. A certain solemnity, which is reflected in word, thought and action, reminiscent of a gentler era. Reading the Ramayana, one marvels at how polite everyone was, even to one’s enemies. The earlier makers took care of that. They approached each character with reverence. That, sadly, is missing here. Case in point is Hanumanji. Not only is he smaller in size than Rama, the language he uses sometimes is colloquial. The larger-than-life persona of Lord Hanuman doesn’t shine through here. The dialogue is patchy throughout the film. For example, Ravana’s son Indrajeet warns off Rama and Laxmana like a local goon terrorising hawkers. That’s groan-inducing indeed.

Ravana was a scholar beyond parallel and a warrior who had conquered the three worlds. In our epics, he’s depicted as a conflicted being blinded by power. But in the present film, the damned glory of Ravana isn’t reflected at all. Instead of seeing a fallen angel or a demigod, we see a man having too many powers and too little control over them. Saif Ali Khan gamely tries to be the best Ravana he can be but lack of a proper character sketch and dialogue has left him floundering. And that beard was strictly unnecessary.

We’ve always read that during the time of Ramayana and Mahabharata, night was a time of peace, of truce. Wars were fought from dawn till dusk, with the setting sun seen as a sign of cease fire but that isn’t the case here. Some obvious details were missing. Bali and Sugreev were said to look alike and were evenly matched in strength but that isn’t the case here. Barring Hanuman, the other vanaras look like extras from The Planet Of The Apes. Ravana, according to the canon, had an accumulation of Amrit in his navel, a crucial fact revealed during the end game by Vibhishana. That’s missing here. Mandodari has a miniscule role here, whereas in the epic she’s depicted as Ravana’s conscience keeper. There are so many other things which the director has simply decided to ignore.

As said earlier, the dialogue is a huge let down. The only person who gets good lines is Prabhas, who gets proper heroic dialogue. Kriti Sanon too sets some decent lines. Though we wish there was more spark in her confrontation scenes with Saif Ali Khan. The actors have tried hard to do justice to their roles. Prabhas, who has played the good son and brother before in Baahubali, knows what to do and gives another believable performance. He plays his role with the dignity it deserves and verily carries the film on his able shoulders. Kriti Sanon is divinely beautiful as Janki but doesn’t have much to do here, except look the part of a damsel in distress. Sunny Singh needs work on his dialogue delivery. He sounds like a Delhi boy transported to a bygone era.

The fight choreography is nice but doesn’t match the gold standard set by SS Rajamouli. The VFX is ambitious but could have been better. As said earlier, the colour palette is gloomy in most of the second half. Better colour grading would have added to the film.

Ramayana is a much revered epic and shouldn’t be treated like LOTR. It has much to teach but its themes of sacrifice, brotherhood and love aren’t brought to the forefront here in their full glory.