Adipurush

Everything is big here, but nothing looks grand.

It reduces Ramayan to a two-dimensional barrage of little feeling.

Director Om Raut takes a leap of faith only to land in safe territory, while Prabhas looks the part but is too restrained to convey the inner turmoil of a man for whom virtue is more important than his life.

Even then, Adipurush lacks ingenuity. This is saying something because the outing (mounted on a staggering budget of Rs 500 crores) stands on visual effects. But like most Hindi films the VFX is shaky and even jarring

Even if one were to somehow shut one’s senses to the film’s intent, Raut’s adaptation of the Hindu mythological epic, Ramayan, is one of the most tacky, perplexing and derivative attempts.

The lack of chemistry between the leads is augmented by the heavily worked-upon backdrops and Manoj Muntashir’s pedestrian dialogue.

Adipurush is a spectacle for all the wrong reasons. Viewers will be watching to see if the tacky visual effects and idiotic plot can get any worse. They do. And at three hours long, this bombastic and mind-numbing fantasy film becomes an endurance test.

Western audiences looking to experience an original Indian blockbuster will instead be confronted with a cheap, Z-grade facsimile of better Hollywood films.

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.

Om Raut's adaptation derives its soul from Ramayana and the structure from MCU. The convergence gives clumsy results.