Adipurush gave many wrong justifications and failed to connect, Ramayan worked even in OTT-era: Sunil Lahri

Sunil Lahri has once again spoken about the differences between Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and the new film Adipurush. Sunil played Lakshman in the 80s TV show and has been voicing his views against the Prabhas-Kriti Sanon film ever since it released last month. In his latest statements, Sunil said that more than the glorification of an era and the characters, films and shows must have an emotional connect with the audience. (Also read: Ramayana’s Lakshman has high hopes from Kangana Ranaut’s portrayal of Sita)

He added that Adipurush failed to do so, while Ramayan had such a deep connection with the audience that it worked even when there were so many options in the ‘OTT-era’.

Success of Ramayan

Ramayan registered unprecedented TRPs, when it was rerun in 2020 amid the Covid-19 lockdown. Along with actor Sunil Lahri, the TV show featured Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia as Ram and Sita, respectively. It is all set to air again on Shemaroo TV starting this week.

Adipurush projects wrong justification

Speaking with Dainik Bhaskar, Sunil said, “Adipurush does not touch emotions at all. It projects many wrong justifications. Hanuman is not just a devotee but God. Kaafi utpatang baatein kahi gayin (Many baseless things have been said in the film). I would like request everyone ‘please do not play with the emotions of the audience’. I can only say that Adipurush is a negative and disappointing film. Even the characters were not well-defined. You cannot succeed by simply glorifying something, this is Ramayan you are talking about and it lives in our veins.”

He added, “What really matters is how much could the makers connect with the audience. Excuses do not work. You may say that there was just one TV channel back when Ramayan first aired, but there were 300 channels (when Ramayan aired again) in the lockdown. Even OTT and social media platforms were there, but people loved it and broke records watching the show. People will feel connected if you connect with their emotions.”

Popularity of Ramayan

Sunil also recalled the time when the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Kailash Chandra Joshi urged him to record the show on the sets so that his wife could watch it while still in a hospital. He also talked about the time when the cast visited Varanasi and around “10 lakh people gathered just to see us”.