Adipurush director Om Raut opens up on reaction to its teaser: ‘Made film to be consumed on big screen, not cell phones’
Filmmaker Om Raut says even a small teaser of his upcoming epic Adipurush is too massive to be contained on cell phones and inss its VFX, scale and treatment would look spectacular on the big screen— for which the film was made.
The one-minute-fifty second teaser, launched in a grand manner in Ayodhya on Sunday, was met with social media trolling with many criticising its VFX and world building.
During a special 3D screening of its teaser—which was more immersive, and definitely a step above the 2D teaser which was launched—Raut opened up on the reactions of the audience and why he wasn’t surprised.
“I was disheartened for sure, not surprised because the film is made for a larger medium—the big screen. You can cut it down to some extent but can’t bring it down to a mobile phone. That’s an environment I can’t control. Given a choice, I’d never put it on YouTube but that’s the need of the hour. We need to put it there so that it reaches a wide audience,” Raut said answering a question .
The filmmaker, whose last outing Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior was also a VFX heavy film, said this was a just glimpse into the world of Adipurush that he wanted the audience to enjoy, as the film is still more than 100 days away from its January 12 release.
“My partner and the studio (T-Series) is the largest YouTube channel in the world. This film does require audience that comes to cinema halls very rarely— primarily the senior citizen generation that doesn’t come to cinemas, or people from remote locations who don’t have access to theaters. We need those people to come and see the film because it’s Ramayana.”
Raut said he has mounted the film in such a fashion that it cuts across a generation of viewers, from the elderly to the kids, who are hooked on to watching global content.
“We are doing it in this fashion so that it reaches next generation which has lived on global content. We are trying to talk to them in their language, we want to reach them. That’s why it has to be consumed in a particular way, in a wider respect.
“We need to reach a wider audience and get them excited. So, as I said, I was not surprised because it’s not made for smaller screen. It’s made for a larger screen and I can’t consume it on a smaller screen,” he added.
Adipurush is produced T-series, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar, and Om Raut, Prasad Sutar, and Rajesh Nair of Retrophiles.
The film features Prabhas as Lord Ram, Saif Ali Khan as Ravan and Kriti Sanon as Sita. Adipurush is based on Valmiki’s Ramayana and will be released in January across 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D formats.