Sunil Lahri aka Lakshman: Adipurush has turned Ramayana into a joke

Actor Sunil Lahri, who essayed the role of Lakshman in Ramanand Sagar’s TV show Ramayana, is disgusted by the treatment of the epic in Om Raut’s Adipurush, and questions how the cheap dialogues and wrong portrayal make the story modern.

“I watched the film purposely because I didn’t want to say anything without watching the film. And watching it was very disappointing. I never expected the makers with such background and work to credit, to make such a film. They have made a joke out of the epic and our sanskriti, and it is an insult,” Lahri tells us.

Ever since the release, the Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and SaidfSaif Ali Khan starrer, touted as a dramatic retelling of the mythological tale, has been getting flak from all quarters over its dialogues, colloquial language and VFX. While the makers have shared that the team will revise the dialogues, the criticism refuses to die down.

Calling Adipurush “disgusting”, Lahiri adds, “Had it been a foreigner making such a film, we could have thought that the person is not aware about our culture. But this is unjustifiable. They have made fun of the story as well as the characters, with the language they have used.”

He further points out that the team has also tampered the facts and “it shows Lord Ram going for the battle on Lord Hanuman instead of a chariot which is wrong.”

Talking of Saif Ali Khan’s character as Ravan, he says, “If we forget that he was playing the role of Ravan, and a negative character, then we can say he did a good job. We can’t call his character Ravan because he was very intelligent. Saif’s portrayal was wrong from the start which is the look. He was looking more like a Mughal. I don’t know what the brief was. We couldn’t differentiate between Ram and Lakshman because they looked the same, be it body or expression.”

Lahiri mentions that the actors are not at fault here but it’s the director and the creative team that has done the blunder and hence, the emotional connection is also missing from the film.

“Tattoo lagane se koi modernn nahi hota. They wanted to make it modern by how such cheap dialogues make it modern. And if our Ramayan was not modern and accepted by the people, how did it work so well during the lockdown,” he wonders.

Now, Lahiri has suggested to Prem Sagar to use the technology to recreate a new chapter from the book of their Ramayana.

“We can make the Battle of Lanka in IMAX. These are some iconic characters, they can use motion technology and use those characters to a new story. It will turn out to be a viral project,” he ends.