Mukesh Khanna lashes out at Prabhas-starrer Adipurush, calls Om Raut film 'bhayanak mazaak with Ramayana'

Since its release this Friday, the mythological action film Adipurush has been receiving negative reviews from audiences and critics calling out its pedestrian language, horrible visual effects, and poor performances. Now, veteran actor Mukesh Khanna has also joined in and lashed out at the makers for "disrespecting" Ramayana.

Mukesh Khanna, who portrayed the mythological character of Bhishma in B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat, shared a video on his YouTube channel Bheeshm International and blasted the film and its director Om Raut.  "There is no bigger disrespect to Ramayana than Adipurush. Om Raut seems to have no knowledge of Ramayana and on top of that, we have the great buddhijeevi writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla, who has turned our Ramayana into Kalyug. His nonsensical dialogues and sleep-inducing screenplay has created a film that can make even sleeping pills blush. This film has no relation to any of the Ramayanas ever written", he said.

"It’s clear after watching the film that Raut is influenced by Hollywood filmmaking and inspired by that, he has stuffed this Ramayana with nuisance. If you wanted to take cinematic liberties, you could have made a fictional film. But, you played with the images of gods and hence, Adipurush is a bhayanak mazaak (a dangerous joke) with Ramayana", he further added.

Khanna, who is known for playing the superhero Shaktimaan in the DD National show of the same name, also warned viewers to keep their brains at home if they are planning to watch Adipurush on the big screen as he stated, "Even an average child would know Ramayana more than the makers of this film. We all learnt Ramayana through various ways, including Ramanand Sagar’s epic serial. If any of you are planning to watch this movie (Adipurush), I request you to keep your brains at home before stepping inside the theatre."

The 64-year-old actor also criticised the portrayals of Rama, Ravana, Meghnada, and Hanuman in the Om Raut directorial. Adipurush stars Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Saif Ali Khan, Devdatta Nage, and Sunny Singh in the leading roles. The film has already earned more than Rs 300 crore at the worldwide box office, despite facing strong backlash.

READ | Adipurush in legal trouble: FIR filed against makers and cast of Prabhas-starrer for 'distorting image of Hindu gods'