Adipurush editor on backlash to Prabhas-Kriti teaser: ‘People are used to seeing Ram and Sita in old monotonous looks’

Adipurush editor said the reaction to Prabhas and Kriti Sanon’s teaser last year and the criticism it received left the ‘entire team in shock’.

Ashish Mhatre, who has worked as a film editor on projects such as Dharavi Bank, Gandhi Talks, and a few Marathi films, apart from Adipurush, opened up about the criticism that the cast and crew faced after the Adipurush teaser was released last year. He said that the audience is used to seeing Ram and Sita in ‘old monotonous looks’, and perhaps did not like Prabhas and Kriti Sanon’s look in the film for that reason.

Om Raut’s Adipurush faced criticism over the quality of VFX and visuals since its teaser dropped in October 2022. Weeks later, Om had taken to social media to announce that the release of the Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon film had been pushed to June 16, 2023, instead of the scheduled January 12 release. Now, the film’s editor Ashish Mhatre has opened up about the backlash that the Adipurush teaser faced.

“The entire team was in shock when the teaser was released as we never expected such kind of reviews, but director Om Raut’s vision was very clear. When he explained the film to us along with the characters, he was very clear about what he wanted in the film. He had taken care of all those aspects of the story that might hurt the sentiments of the people. He never wanted to do that but he just changed the world and he has made it in a way that will appeal to the youth,” Ashish Mhatre told ETimes.

Speaking further about Ram and Sita’s look in the film, and how that might not have impressed some people, he said, “Maybe whatever we wanted to convey failed to reach the audience. There are two possibilities – one is that the world that we created was not expected by the audience as they are used to seeing Ram and Sita in old monotonous looks and were expecting that Adipurush will be on similar lines. The second reason could be that the majority of the people didn’t see the 3D version of the teaser, they just saw it on their mobile phones. So when some of the people saw the teaser again in 3D, they changed their views and also agreed that watching the teaser on mobile gave them a different notion. Many of them took back their words and reviews after watching the 3D version of the teaser.”

Featuring Saif Ali Khan, Prabhas and Kriti in lead roles, Adipursh is reportedly based on the Hindu mythological epic Ramayan. Saif’s role is loosely based on Raavan from the epic, while Prabhas will be seen as Raghava and Kriti as Janaki, characters based on Lord Ram and Sita, respectively.