Adipurush is gearing up for its grand release. The film, touted as India’s most expensive ever made, is releasing new material for promotion and publicity every day. On Friday, the film’s team – led by director Om Raut – tweeted new posters of Devdatta Nage as Lord Hanuman, along with slogans in five Indian languages. The only problem – apart from Hindi, the other languages’ translation was incorrect.
On Friday morning, Om Raut took to Twitter to share four posters of Devdatta Nage as Hanuman from the film. The accompanying text in Hindi read: “Hum hain Kesari, kya barabari (We are saffron, we have no equal).” The first line was followed by a translation of the line in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
However, minutes after the tweet was posted, many Telugu-speaking followers pointed out that the Telugu line actually did not mean anything. “Dear Om Raut, this is Gibberish, not Telugu,” wrote one. Another said, “The Telugu translation has no meaning.” Many criticised the director and the film’s team for not doing their due diligence. “You don't know Ramayan, we get it but at least hire a Telugu person who can correct you. The Telugu line doesn't make any sense.”
The screenshot of the tweet was shared on other social media platforms as well. On Reddit, one user shared it with the caption: “What is he trying to say?” On the thread, many other fans pointed out that the Tamil and Malayalam translations had errors too. “So they butchered all the languages,” commented one redditor. Another added, “Malayalam line is even more funny. It can be translated into ‘We Kesari who became equals’.” Many others were confused as to why Hanuman was referred to as Kesari, who was actually his father in the epic. Hanuman is often referred to as Kesarinandan, meaning the son of Kesari.
As of writing, 16 hours have passed but the tweet remains unchanged and unedited. Adipurush, based on Ramayan, stars Prabhas as Raghava (based on Lord Rama), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (based on Sita), and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (based on Ravana). The film releases in theatres on June 19.
