Om Raut’s Adipurush has been setting records at the box office ever since its release on June 16. However, the film has garnered substantial controversy over some dialogues in the film, especially those of Lord Hanuman. Many viewers have pointed out that they were “colloquial” and “oversimplified”. To redress the issue, Adipurush makers officially stated they would alter the controversial dialogues in the film. Meanwhile, the film’s writer and lyricist Manoj Muntashir, in an exclusive chat with Republic Bharat, addressed the criticism surrounding the dialogues he penned. The writer also shed light on how he has ‘challenged Bollywood norms’.
3 things you need to know
- Manoj Muntashir has penned the dialogues of Adipurush as well as the songs Jai Shree Ram and Ram Siya Ram.
- The makers have decided to alter five dialogues in the film that “hurt” viewers.
- New prints of Adipurush with revamped dialogues will be made available in theatres from this week onwards.
Manoj Muntashir says he has ‘challenged Bollywood norms?
In a Twitter post, Muntashir revealed that after Adipurush release, many of his “brothers” abused him on social media and labelled him as a ‘sanatan-drohi’. He expressed his displeasure with the allegations against him and said that he passed on atleast 10’12 films in a year just because the narrative of the film did not align with sanatan dharma. He said, ‘Half of Bollywood does not want to work with me because they know dialogues like ‘paap ka devta’ and ‘hawas ka pujaari’ cannot be passed if he works on the script. I have challenged the norms of Bollywood.”
(Manoj Muntashir opened up on being ‘being abused’ on social media for some dialogues in Adipurush | Image: Manoj Muntashir/Instagram)
Muntashir also elaborated on why he is selective with the films he works on. He said, ‘If I wanted to earn money, I could’ve easily done that. I might even be able to buy a private jet, but I prefer to live an ordinary life. People are lining up to work with me, but I pass on at least 10-15 films a year. That is because despite having made my place in the film industry, I do not wish to compromise on my sanatan values. I pass on films that don’t align with those values.”
He added that after much struggle, when it was finally time to reap the results of his hard work, his sanatan values awakened. Muntashir said, ‘I will not earn money by compromising on my values. Even if that means I do not work on films.” Muntashir also said that he is “not a part of Bollywood”.
‘I receive invitations from all parties but I never go. Manoj Muntashir is not part of Bollywood and people know this,” the lyricist said. He concluded by saying that even after being so sincere, people were offended by him.
Manoj Muntashir defends himself over Lord Hanuman’s dialogues
The Adipurush team has changed some of the dialogues in the film and they will be incorporated into new prints in cinema halls. A particular dialogue that received criticism was when Devdatta Nage as Lord Hanuman said, ‘Kapda tere baap ka, aag tere baap ki…’. Manoj Muntashir questioned why people were not talking about the deeper and more impactful dialogues delivered by Prabhas as Raghava or Kriti Sanon as Janaki.
Muntashir said on The Debate, ‘Yeh dialogue iss desh ke bade bade sant, bade bade katha vachak aisi hi bolte hai jaise maine likha hai (Saints and spoken word storytellers of India have been narrating the tales of Ramayana in a fashion similar to that I have written). I am not the first one to write this dialogue, it’s already there.” He added that in order to make the characters appear distinct from one another, dialogues were written in a particular manner for each of them. “It is not an error. It is a very meticulous thought process that has gone into writing the dialogues for Bajrang Bali and for all the characters,” he said.
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