''Adipurush'' () is an upcoming Indian

mythological film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fictio ...

based on the epic ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

''. The film is written and directed by

Om Raut Om Raut is an Indian filmmaker. Raut has received 68th National Film Awards for Best Popular Film for the film ''Tanhaji''. He received several accolades for his 2015 film '' Lokmanya: Ek Yug Purush''. Raut's upcoming working is the hindu my ...

and produced by T-Series and Retrophiles. Shot simultaneously in

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

languages, the film stars

Prabhas Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju (born 23 October 1979), known mononymously as Prabhas (), is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema, Prabhas has featured in '' F ...

Kriti Sanon Kriti Sanon (born 27 July 1990) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu-language films. After pursuing a degree in engineering from the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, she briefly worked as a fashion model. Sanon began ...

, and

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ...

(in his Telugu debut). ''Adipurush'' was announced in August 2020, through an official motion poster.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

commenced in February 2021 and ended in November 2021 taking place primarily in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, followed by post-production works. The film's music is composed by

Ajay–Atul Ajay-Atul is an Indian music composer duo comprising brothers Ajay and Atul Gogavale. They won the Best Music Direction award at the 56th National Film Awards from the Government of India for their music in the Marathi film ''Jogwa'' in 2008. ...

. ''Adipurush'' is budgeted at over , making it one of the most expensive Indian films ever made. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release on 16 June 2023.

Premise

7,000 years ago,

Ayodhya Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhya wa ...

's king

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

travels to the island of Lanka with the help of

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

's army with an aim to rescue his wife

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

, who has been abducted by

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. ...

, the demon king of Lanka.

Cast

as Raghava *

as Janaki *

as Lankesh * Sunny Singh as

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja () ...

Devdatta Nage Devdatta Nage (born 5 February 1977) is an Indian actor. He gained fame after playing role of Lord Khandoba in the Zee Marathi serial ''Jai Malhar''. Personal life Nage is from Alibag of Raigad district, Maharashtra, India. He lives in Mumb ...

Vatsal Sheth Vatsal Sheth (born 5 August 1980) is an Indian actor, model and entrepreneur. He has acted in many Indian television shows and numerous Hindi films, and is known for his portrayal of Raj Chaudhary in the 2004 film '' Taarzan: The Wonder Car'', ...

Sonal Chauhan Sonal Chauhan (born 16 May 1987) is an Indian actress, singer and model who predominantly works in Telugu and Hindi language films. She made her acting debut with Hindi film '' Jannat'' and her Telugu film debut with ''Rainbow'', both in 200 ...

* Trupti Toradmal

Production

Development

''Adipurush,'' an adaptation of the Hindu epic ''

'', was announced on 18 August 2020, via a promotional poster.

portrays Lord Rama under the direction of

who earlier helmed the period action film ''

Tanhaji ''Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior'' is a 2020 Indian historical action film, co-written and directed by Om Raut and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Ajay Devgn under T-Series Films and Ajay Devgn FFilms. Tracing the life of Maratha w ...

'' (2020). Om Raut was fascinated by the 1992 Japanese film '' Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama'' and was motivated to adapt the epic ''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 film ever made, with a budget of . An amount of is estimated to be spent on

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

. It is shot simultaneously in

and

languages, and is filmed in 3D.

Casting

In September 2020, the makers revealed that Prabhas is enacting Lord Rama's portrayal whose character name was later revealed as Raghava. Saif Ali Khan who already worked as an antagonist in Raut's ''Tanhaji'' has been signed for the role of

with the name Lankesh. After rumours of Anushka Shetty, Anushka Sharma,

Kiara Advani Alia Advani (born 31 July 1991), known professionally as Kiara Advani (), is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu language films. After making her acting debut in the comedy film '' Fugly'' (2014), she played MS Dhoni's wife in the ...

, and

Keerthy Suresh Keerthy Suresh (born 17 October 1992) is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Tamil and Telugu films, in addition to a few Malayalam films. She was recognised as Forbes 30 under 30 in 2021.She won the National Film Award for Best Act ...

being approached for the role of

, it was reported in November 2020 that Kriti Sanon has been cast to essay the role; her inclusion into the film was confirmed by makers four months later in March 2021. Sunny Singh who joined the sets in February 2021 is playing Lord Rama's younger brother

Filming

Motion capture shoot for ''Adipurush'' begun on 19 January 2021.

Muhurat shot In the Indian film industry, the muhurat shot or muhurtam shot is the first shot (or take) of a film marking the commencement of the principal photography. It is preceded by a pooja (religious rites). Muhurtam is a word from the Rig Veda and m ...

and formal launch was done on 2 February 2021 in

, India.

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 breakout. In October 2021, Khan and Sanon wrapped up shoot. On 10 November 2021, the filming was completed.

Marketing

The film's teaser was released on 2 October 2022 on the occasion of

Gandhi Jayanti Gandhi Jayanti is an event celebrated in India to mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. It is celebrated annually on 2 October, and is one of the three national holidays of India. The UN General Assembly announced on 15 June 2007 that it adop ...

. The teaser received heavy criticism for the poor quality of the

VFX Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

and CGI.

Release

''Adipurush'' was scheduled to theatrically release on 16 June 2023 in Hindi and Telugu, along with dubbed versions in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

. It was previously scheduled to release on 11 August 2022, but was later postponed due to the release of ''

Laal Singh Chaddha ''Laal Singh Chaddha'' is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Advait Chandan and written by Atul Kulkarni. Produced by Paramount Pictures, Aamir Khan Productions and Viacom18 Studios, it is a remake of the 1994 American ...

''. The film was postponed again to avoid a clash with ''

Veera Simha Reddy ''Veera Simha Reddy'' is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Gopichand Malineni and produced by Mythri Movie Makers. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role along with Shruti Haasan, Varalaxmi Sarath ...

'' and ''

Waltair Veerayya ''Waltair Veerayya'' is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Bobby Kolli and produced by Mythri Movie Makers. The film stars Chiranjeevi as the titular character alongside Ravi Teja, Shruti Haasan, and Catherine Tre ...

'' and also for reworking the visual effects, due to the severe backlash after the release of the teaser trailer. It is now scheduled to release on 16 June 2023.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{T-Series Upcoming Indian films Upcoming Telugu-language films Upcoming Hindi-language films 2023 drama films Indian 3D films Indian multilingual films Indian mythology in popular culture Hindu mythological films Indian epic films Films scored by M. M. Keeravani Films shot in Mumbai Upcoming films Films based on the Ramayana Films directed by Om Raut