Adipurush: Netizens brutally troll Saif Ali Khan’s ‘Raavan’, call to boycott Om Raut directorial

The highly anticipated mythological film “Adipurush'' released its teaser on October 2, in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Under the direction of Om Ranaut, the film is a retelling of Ramayana, with Prabhas as Ram, Kriti Sanon as Janaki, Sunny Singh as Lakshman and Saif Ali Khan as Ravan. However, despite the hype, the teaser ended up leaving a wake of disappointment among netizens. Part of the disappointment was directed at Saif Ali Khan’s appearance.

The teaser is currently swarming the internet - especially Twitter - in an increasingly negative light. Netizens are zeroing in on Saif sporting deep kohl-rimmed-eyes and a thick long beard with angry protests that he looks nothing like ‘Ravan’. Instead, he is being compared to a vast spectrum of other unrelated characters, ranging from Alaudin Khilji to Taimur to a Targaeryan character from Game of Thrones. Most notably he is being shamed over portraying the former, and it has sparked an entire #Disappointed hashtag across the twitter realm.

A Twitter user furiously dissects Saif’s haircut, complaining that Ravan and Hanuman should be wearing Mukut, and exclaims that the appearance as a whole is insulting not just to their communities but to the epic of Ramayana itself. Another social media user, dancing on the same tune, exclaims,“I mean seriously!!! Are they going to change the name of ravan to rizwan ?? Who is styling his beard?? Javid Habib??" Another twitter user echoes similar sentiments by expressing, “How is this the look of Ravan? Ravan was a Hindu Brahmin from the Northern region. This looks more like Taimur or Babur or Aurangzeb. What kind of movie is this? Boycott this movie because it's not Ramayana.”

The film, which has been said to be made on a nearly Rs 500 crore budget, is all set for a major release in January 2023. The release date has been pushed back a myriad of times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.