20 June,2023 09:24 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Prabhas in `Adipurush` official poster
Amidst controversies and protests, âAdipurush' collapsed on the first Monday after its release. Starring Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan, the film dipped in its revenue earnings by collecting just Rs. 20 crores. As per a report in Sacnilk, the film raked in Rs 220 crore in India and Rs 340 crore worldwide over the weekend. It earned â¹86 crore on Friday, â¹65 crore on Saturday and â¹69 crore on Sunday, but took a nosedive on Monday.
Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh announced the âcrash' on Monday. He wrote in a tweet, "THE NEGATIVE WORD OF MOUTH HAS COME INTO PLAY⦠After a strong opening weekend, Adipurush COLLAPSES on Monday. Hindi version. India biz (business)."
Adipurush is the multilingual cinematic adaption of and loosely based on one of the two most significant Hindu epics, Ramayana. The Om Raut directorial became the site of much controversy over its content, thematic representation and dialogues.
It especially faced severe backlash from right-wing associations and groups for its alleged wrongful depiction of the mythological tale. While netizens and the audience also perceived several of the dialogues to be cringeworthy, the Indian Cine Workers Association has now come out against Adipurush for wrongfully optimizing on its creative license and hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. The association wrote to PM Modi, pleading a ban and demanding an FIR against the creators.
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"Adipurush is a complete disaster of our faith in Shri Ram and Ramayana⦠We need FIR against director Om Raut, dialogue writer Manoj Mantashir Shukla and the producers of the film," read the letter.
Multiple theatres across the country are becoming centres of fierce protests. The film is also undergoing a social media trial with several protests expressing their dismay, discontent, anger and an array of opinions on how the film has hurt Hindu sentiments. Videos uploaded to social media show protestors calling for the film's boycott while chanting slogans like "Murdabad," "Hindu dharma ka apmaan band karo (stop insulting Hindu dharma)" and "Maa Sita ka apmaan band karo".
Two of Nepal's metropolitan cities also stopped the showing of Indian movies, including its capital Kathmandu after orders from their mayors.
