More than two years after Adipurush sparked widespread controversy, lyricist and writer Manoj Muntashir has admitted that writing the film’s dialogues and publicly defending it remain the biggest regrets of his career, reports Hindustan Times.
Muntashir said he now feels “ashamed” of his work on the film and apologised for the controversy surrounding it.
He revealed that his wife had advised him not to defend Adipurush publicly, warning that he could become the face of the backlash.
Looking back, he said he regretted ignoring her advice.
“In the beginning, I was a bit dismissive. It took me two days to understand. Adipurush was the biggest mistake of my life, and defending that film was an even bigger mistake,” Muntashir said.
“Whatever happened around the film, I’m very ashamed of it, and I beg the forgiveness of this country for all that had happened,” he added.
The writer also admitted that he was disappointed for failing to do justice to the characters of Lord Rama and Lord Hanuman.
Although he maintained that some of his earlier remarks about the film had been taken out of context, he acknowledged that he now regrets the dialogues he wrote.
“Now, when I look back, I am ashamed that I wrote them. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote them,” he said.
Directed by Om Raut and produced by T-Series and Retrophiles, Adipurush was a big-screen adaptation inspired by the Hindu epic Ramayana.
The film starred Prabhas as Raghava (Lord Rama), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (Sita), Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Ravana), Sunny Singh as Shesh (Lakshmana) and Devdatta Nage as Bajrang (Hanuman).
Made on a reported budget of around ₹600 crore, Adipurush was among the most expensive Indian films ever produced.
Released on 16 June 2023, it opened strongly at the box office but faced heavy criticism over its visual effects, dialogues, characterisation and modern interpretation of the Ramayana.
The backlash prompted the filmmakers to revise several controversial dialogues after the film’s release.
Although Adipurush grossed more than ₹390 crore worldwide, it was widely regarded as a commercial disappointment because of its massive production cost and overwhelmingly negative response from critics and audiences.
