Adipurush: The Baahubali Version

Like in Baahubali, Prabhas walks like he is doing the hop, step and jump in the Olympics. And he carries the same weapons, notices A Ganesh Nadar, viewing Adipurush in Tamil.

There was Baahubali and then Baahubali: The Conclusion and today, I watched Baahubali. Again.

I didn't realise I was watching Baahubali Again until my neighbour in the theatre and his wife started talking.

Wife: The hero looks so familiar.

Husband: You have forgotten already. That is Baahubali.

Like in Baahubali, Prabhas walks like he is doing the hop, step and jump in the Olympics. And he carries the same weapons.

South movies usually show the hero first, but in Adipurush, we are shown the villain first, meditating in the snow.

And when they show the hero, he is meditating under water.

When they show Hanuman, referred to as Bajrang, he is shown meditating under a tree.

Right at the start, we are told that this story was not the one written by sage Valmiki.

Here, the protagonist is called Raghav.

Sita is Janaki.

The story opens in the forest.

Without wasting time, we are shown Raavan's sister Surpanaka with a red nose. Then it cuts to the golden deer scene, which Janaki wants to take back to Ayodhya.

After Janaki's abduction, a fairy appears as an old lady and tells them to meet Sugreev.

They meet Sugreev and 10 minutes later, Raghav spears Sugreev's elder brother Vali to death.

The story then moves to Dhanushkodi. And from there to Lanka after building the setu.

Lakshman, called Sesh here, gets injured by Indrajit's arrow. There is no doctor, so Vibhishan's wife doubles up as a vaid. She needs the 'Sanjivani shrub', so Bajrang brings the whole mountain to her.

Not because he cannot recognise the Sanjivani shrub as in the epic, but because he surmises, 'Today Sesh fell, tomorrow someone else will fall. We need a lot of Sanjivani.'

The sun never rises in Lanka, as it is always shown in darkness.

We have fire bombs being hurled and a sceptre which goes up and down the sentry wall and cuts into pieces anyone who tries to enter the fort.

And you can go down in Raavan's palace in... hold your breath... a lift!

The CGI and VFX don't add any value to the film.

Though the run-time is a long 179 minutes, one gets the feeling that the director is in a hurry to finish: He doesn't dwell anywhere for too long.

So the film ends as fast as it started.

As I was walking out of the theatre, I suddenly realised that while I did see Baahubali the hero, I did not see Katappa!