Adipurush () is a 2023 Indian mythological action film inspired by the Hindu epic Ramayana. The film is directed and co-written by Om Raut, and produced by T-Series and Retrophiles. Produced in Bollywood,* the film was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu. The film features Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh, and Devdutta Nage.
The film was announced in August 2020, through an official motion poster. Principal photography, which took place primarily in Mumbai, commenced in February 2021 and ended in November 2021. The film's music is composed by Ajay–Atul and Sachet-Parampara. Adipurush is budgeted at - and became one of the most expensive Indian films.
Adipurush was released on 16 June 2023. It was heavily panned by critics and audiences alike, who criticised the film's screenplay, dialogues and visuals. It emerged as a box office bomb, though it became the second-highest grossing Telugu film of 2023.
Plot Thousands of years ago, Lankesh, the demon king of Lanka, obtains a divine boon from Brahma, the creator god, rendering him completely invincible against gods and demons alike, and immune to death during both day and night. Many years later in the kingdom of Ayodhya, King Dashratha is compelled to exile his eldest son, Raghava, for fourteen years to honor a vow made to his wife, Kaikeyi, ensuring her son Bharat ascends the throne. Raghava peacefully accepts the decree and retreats into the wilderness of the Panchavati forest near the Godavari River, accompanied by his virtuous wife, Janaki, and his fiercely loyal brother, Shesh.
While in the forest, Lankesh's sister, the demoness Shurpanakha, attempts to seduce Raghava and launches a lethal assault on Janaki. Shesh intervenes to protect Janaki, mutilating Shurpanakha by severing her nose. Outraged by his sister's humiliation and intrigued by her description of Janaki’s unparalleled beauty, Lankesh plots a retaliatory abduction. He deploys his henchman, Maricha, who transforms into a mystical golden deer to lure Raghava and Shesh away from their hermitage. Capitalizing on their absence, Lankesh kidnaps Janaki and imprisons her in his kingdom. Upon discovering her disappearance, Raghava and Shesh embark on a desperate rescue mission.
En route, they encounter the ascetic Shabari, who directs them toward Mount Rishyamukha. There, they forge a critical alliance with the exiled Vanara king, Sugriva, along with his commanders Jambavan and the mighty warrior Bajrang. To locate Janaki and assure her of her impending rescue, Raghava dispatches Bajrang to infiltrate Lanka. Bajrang leaps across the ocean and successfully delivers Raghava's message to Janaki. However, he is captured by Lankesh's formidable son, Indrajit, who orders Bajrang's tail to be set ablaze. Breaking free, Bajrang uses the fire to incinerate a large portion of Lanka before flying back to rally Raghava and the Vanara army.
To cross the sea, Raghava invokes Samudra, the ocean god, who grants them passage. The Vanara army constructs a floating stone bridge, allowing them to successfully march onto the shores of Lanka. Meanwhile, Lankesh's righteous brother, Vibhishana, is banished from the kingdom for opposing the abduction of Janaki; he promptly defects to Raghava’s side, offering vital strategic intelligence. When Lankesh flatly rejects a final peace ultimatum, a full-scale war commences. During an early skirmish, Indrajit mortally wounds Shesh with dark magic. Bajrang flies to the Himalayas and carries back an entire mountain containing the life-saving Sanjivani herb, successfully reviving Shesh.
Raghava orchestrates a decisive, three-pronged offensive against Lankesh’s palace. The first assault, led by Sugriva and Jambavan at the main gates, suffers heavy casualties from Lanka's advanced defensive artillery, but the tide turns when Raghava provides tactical aerial support via Bajrang. The second prong sees Shesh, Vibhishana, and Angad hunt down Indrajit; despite sustaining severe injuries, Shesh successfully executes the demon prince. Facing massive losses, Lankesh awakens his giant brother, Kumbhakarna, from his deep slumber, but Raghava and Shesh swiftly neutralize the behemoth when he overpowers Bajrang.
With his forces entirely decimated, Lankesh personally enters the battlefield. In a brutal final showdown, Raghava battles the demon king, ultimately realizing the loophole in the divine boon: Lankesh can only be destroyed during twilight, the precise transition between day and night. Raghava delivers the fatal blow at dusk, obliterating Lankesh and securing Janaki's freedom. Having successfully completed their fourteen-year exile, Raghava, Janaki, and Shesh return triumphantly to Ayodhya, where Raghava is crowned king with Janaki as his queen, establishing a new era of righteousness.
Cast
Production
Development
Adipurush, an adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana, was announced on 18 August 2020, via a promotional poster. Prabhas portrays Rama under the direction of Om Raut who earlier helmed the period action film Tanhaji (2020). Om Raut was fascinated by the 1992 Japanese film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama and was motivated to adapt the Ramayana into a film using modern technology. Raut wrote the script amidst COVID-19 lockdown in India. Prabhas immediately liked the project and the production company T-Series Films was on board for the project.
Adipurush is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, with a budget of 550-800 crore. The film was initially reported to have a budget of 500-600 crores, however after the release of first teaser, the film was met with severe backlash for the poor quality of VFX and CGI, despite having a humungous budget, which compelled the makers to postpone the film by five months and an additional budget of 100-200 crores was assigned to improve the quality of VFX and CGI. It was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, while also filmed in 3D.
Casting
In September 2020, the makers revealed that Prabhas is enacting Rama's portrayal whose character name was later revealed as Raghava. Saif Ali Khan, who already worked as an antagonist in Raut's Tanhaji, signed on for the role of Ravana, with the alias name, Lankesh. After rumours of Anushka Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Kiara Advani, and Keerthy Suresh being approached for the role of Sita, with the alias name of Janaki, it was reported in November 2020 that Kriti Sanon has been cast to essay the role; her inclusion into the film was confirmed by the makers four months later in March 2021. Sunny Singh, who joined the sets in February 2021, played Lakshmana, with the alias name being Shesh. Sharad Kelkar dubbed for Prabhas in the Hindi version while P. Ravi Shankar dubbed for Saif Ali Khan in the Telugu, Tamil and Kannada versions.
Filming
Motion capture shoot for Adipurush begun on 19 January 2021. Muhurtam shot and formal launch was done on 2 February 2021 in Mumbai, India. Principal photography of the movie began that day, as informed by the makers. A massive fire accident took place at the filming location in Mumbai on the same day. Duplicate sets were erected same wise due to the fire break-out. In October 2021, Khan and Sanon wrapped up shoot. On 10 November 2021, the filming was completed.
Music
The music for both the Hindi and Telugu versions of the film is composed by Ajay–Atul and Sachet–Parampara (noted). The first single titled "Jai Shri Ram" was released in its short version on 6 April 2023 on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. The full song was released on 20 May 2023 under the same name in Hindi and Telugu alongside dubbed versions (Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam). The second single titled "Ram Siya Ram" (in Hindi) and "Ram Sita Ram" (in Telugu) was released on 29 May 2023.
Marketing The film's teaser was released on 2 October 2022 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The teaser received heavy criticism for its visual effects and CGI. The film's trailer was released on 9 May 2023, and was seen as an improvement from the teaser with regards to the visuals. The final trailer of the film was released on 6 June 2023.
Release Theatrical Adipurush was theatrically released on 16 June 2023 in Hindi and Telugu, along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam. It was previously scheduled to release on 11 August 2022, but was later postponed due to the release of Laal Singh Chaddha. The film was postponed again to avoid a clash with Veera Simha Reddy and Waltair Veerayya and also to rework the visual effects, due to the severe backlash after the release of the teaser trailer.
The film was initially reported to have a budget of 500-600 crores, making it one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, however after the release of first teaser, the film was met with severe backlash for the poor quality of VFX and CGI, despite having a humungous budget, which compelled the makers to postpone the film by five months and an additional budget of 100-200 crores was assigned to improve the quality of VFX and CGI.
The film was set to premiere at the Tribeca Festival in the Escape From Tribeca section on 13 June 2023, but was cancelled by the makers later. The film was supposed to be played at the Film Festival on 15 and 17 June, but its world premiere, 3 days before the world release had been put down.
The film was also initially scheduled for an IMAX release, which was cancelled later due to the simultaneous release and advance booking of screens for The Flash; the IMAX rulebook does not allow two IMAX films to release on the same day.
The film was initially stopped from release in Nepal citing an issue with a specific dialogue in the film where Goddess Janaki is referred to as the "daughter of India". The controversial dialogue was later removed from the film as per the media reports. Vedic records show Goddess Sita was born in Mithila but the site is controversial. Indians believe that Goddess Sita was born in part of Mithila which falls in India, the present day Sitamarhi in Bihar. Where as Nepalese believe that Goddess Sita was born in part of Mithila which falls in Nepal, the present day Janakpur in Madhesh Province. This further resulted in all Indian films being banned from releasing in the Kathmandu Metropolitan area.
Home media The film was premiered on Netflix from 11 August 2023 in Hindi. The film was also premiered on Amazon Prime Video from 11 August 2023 in Telugu and dubbed versions of Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages.
Game Epic Quiz : Adipurush, a quiz and adventure mobile video game was developed by Hungama Games as a tie-in release for the film.
Reception Box office After a strong opening weekend, Adipurush had a sharp decline in collections on Monday, and dropped further on Tuesday. After 14 days of release, News18 Telugu reported that the film has collected a total worldwide gross of , with a distributors' share of . Although the production team announced that the film has grossed worldwide, the trade figures were differed with News18 Telugu reporting that the film has not even grossed more than in India.
Critical response