Hari Aum.
As many of us would have experienced, spiritual movies and serials can be a source of inspiration, of devotion and joy. The written word has its own beauty, however, there is something special about bringing the characters described in a book into a three-dimensional form.
Over the years, various spiritual television programmes have been made to bring to life the Lilas of God described in the ancient scriptures. These have centred around different forms of God, such as Krishna, Rama, the Divine Mother, Shiva and so on.
Some have related the stories of famous epics such as the Mahabharata. Like many other spiritual seekers, I too have my own taste in spiritual serials and movies and enjoy watching these from time to time. Some of the serials I liked in the past include 'Devon ke Dev Mahadev', 'Mahabharat' (2013 version) and Siya ke Ram.
Creating a spiritual movie or television serial about the Lilas of God is surely no easy task. The Lilas described in the books may be lengthy and detailed. Furthermore, the powers of God may not be at all easy to convey on a mere screen. The might of Lord Vishnu's sudarshana chakra, the power of Lord Shiva's trident, the sheer strength and glory of the Divine Mother can be very difficult to convey on a screen. The mighty powers of good and also of evil are not easy to convey on a screen.
The actors and actresses in such cases would therefore have a tremendously difficult task. To play Vishnu or Shiva or the Mother, is not easy. Yet there are some extraordinarily talented individuals who seem to pull this off almost effortlessly. They are truly blessed by God with the talent required to achieve this.
I do not generally write reviews about movies on this blog, even spiritual ones. However, I thought I would write a little about my impression of the newly-released movie 'Adipurush' here, mainly because it seems to have generated a lot of controversy. This is a movie that attempts to depict the essence of the Ramayana.
I note that this movie seems to have offended a number of devotees and non-devotees alike (not everyone is offended but many seem to be). Some are upset by the graphics, others are disappointed by the actor playing Rama. Some people are appalled by some speeches of Hanuman, while yet others are angry at the depiction of Ravana. A number of people are offended by the tattoos sported by the son of Ravana (Meghanath). One country is so upset by a phrase in the movie that apparently refers to Mother Sita as a 'daughter of India' that they have taken steps to ban a number of Bollywood movies from their cities. All this is really quite extraordinary.
Sri Rama inspires love and also activism in today's India. His name is deeply connected with the freedom movement of the past century (Gandhi is said to have repeated His name and derived tremendous strength from this practice during his greatest trials). In Northern India, particularly within and near the city of Ayodhya (which was the ancient kingdom of Sri Rama), many greet each other even today with the phrase 'Jai Shri Ram' or simply 'Ram Ram'.
Gurus and disciples alike adore the name of Sri Rama and recite this regularly. This name is also a powerful mantra that can grant both spiritual and material benefits. Tulsidas, the great saint and poet from a few centuries ago, famously said that one who ever keeps the lamp of the name of Sri Rama on one's lips will be illuminated both internally and externally.
And the numerous devotees of Sri Rama will each see Him in their own unique way. To some He will be a master, to others a friend, to some He will be their beloved, to others their child. The nine ways of devotion are practiced by various devotees all over India and the globe.
Therefore to bring that Sri Rama, beloved of so many, to life in a movie, to do justice to the numerous aspects of His persona, to depict His many valiant deeds, to express His joy, sorrow, anger and justice is an absolutely extraordinary task. Some will say it has been done in the various serials and movies made in the past. Some will disagree and say that nobody can ever do justice to Him in a movie.
I saw the movie, 'Adipurush', last weekend. I went to see it with an open mind without knowing much about it at all (I had not read anything about the controversies surrounding its making etc).
And, I will admit, that despite all that has been said about it in recent days, I absolutely loved it. Each one of us has the right to our own taste, our own views. I found absolutely nothing seriously offensive or upsetting about the movie. I found myself thoroughly enjoying every moment and was only sorry that it ended (it had been nearly three hours though!).
I will write a little about the movie here. The movie seems to attempt to convey the essence of the Ramayana, the story of the eternal battle between good and evil, the battle that goes on all the time within our hearts and minds, and within the universe. It gets straight to the point, there is no gradual build up explaining the birth of Sri Rama etc (it would be very, very long if it attempted to tell the entire story of the Ramayana in full!).
The movie opens with Ravana getting a boon from Lord Brahma. It conveys his greed, lust for power, his selfishness, sadism and cruelty very well. It shows him as a devotee whose devotion goes horribly wrong. The extraordinary fact is that Ravana too, like Sri Rama Himself, is a devotee of Lord Shiva. He ardently worships the Lord but only for material gains, for power and pleasure. His 'devotion' is only for self-aggrandisement, to make himself great, to secure material power for himself to enjoy.
Although he claims to worship Shiva and appears to do so, in truth, he worships only himself, his lower ego. He is so in love with himself that he cannot see the dangers of his own foolish actions, how his ignorance brings about his own destruction. The character of Ravana is symbolic of the lower self, the ego, in its fullest and worst manifestation. It is a warning to all spiritual seekers of what not to do on the path of worship.
The movie conveys the essence of Ravana as this sort of a negative character very well. But I am surprised to see that many people are focussed only on his outer appearance in the movie; they are upset by his hairstyle, his clothes, his vehicle and other externalities. Creative freedom is surely permitted in these things. Why demonise the entire movie because of Ravana's hairdo? I am unable to understand this.
Similarly, a number of people are upset by the acting of the man who plays Sri Rama. He has been criticised for appearing 'wooden'. However, he is attempting to portray an avatar of Narayana (not Romeo in the Shakespearean play!). Had he shown extremely dramatic emotions, many would have been offended by that too. I actually think he did a very creditable job given the challenging task at hand. I feel he portrayed a balanced representation of Sri Rama.
Then comes the criticism of the dialogue of Lord Hanuman. Many are furious that some of the language in the movie does not seem fitting for an avatar of God. Lord Hanuman is a great devotee of Sri Rama. He is an avatar of Lord Shiva Himself and plays a vital role in this Lila. In the Ramayana, there is a situation where Lord Hanuman allows Himself to be captured by the enemy so that He can then teach them a suitable lesson. In the movie, there is a scene where Ravana's side devise a sadistic and cruel plan to harm Lord Hanuman, and the latter gives a short and pithy reply.
The controversial words in the dialogue seem to be an attempt to convey the scathing contempt that Hanuman has for the extremely evil and sadistic individuals that He faces. However, many devotees are apparently infuriated by the language saying it is inappropriate (it may not be to everyone's taste, but it is not so terrible as to merit so much criticism and boycotting of the entire movie!).
Mostly, the movie succeeds in depicting the remarkable wisdom and devotion of Lord Hanuman, His tireless work in serving Sri Rama (He is both a master karma yogi and a great bhakti yogi) and His humility. Again, I must confess that I feel the frenzied criticism of this portion of the movie is excessive and blown out-of-proportion.
Then there is controversy over the depiction of Mother Sita. One particular country's officials are apparently deeply offended and upset that She has been called 'India's daughter' i.e. 'Bharat ki beti' in the movie. However, the word 'Bharat' is a Puranic word for the ancient land that includes a large part of Asia including both modern day India and their own nation (Modern 'India', whose current borders were only formed in the past century, did not even exist at the time of the Ramayana so many centuries ago). Their anger therefore seems rather misguided and based on a somewhat superficial understanding of the subject.
Having said all that I have above, I will say that I fully respect everyone's views on these matters (even if I do not necessarily agree with them all). Everyone has a right to their own opinion and personal taste when it comes to spirituality, movies and so on. I would, however, like to respectfully say that I feel that, while this movie is certainly not perfect, it can be enjoyable to watch if one can ignore the minutiae and look at the bigger picture (no pun intended), if one can see this as a depiction of a powerful story of the victory of good over evil.
I personally found the movie both wonderful and inspiring. So many things were good about it. Above all, I feel it created a devotional atmosphere-- this felt all the more remarkable as I saw it in a city far away from India. I am glad that this movie is being shown all over the world and I very much hope that people benefit from watching it, that they are inspired to study the original Valmiki Ramayana as a result (I am actually in the process of reading this myself currently; started a few months ago and progressing slowly. I hope to write about some sections of it here in the coming months).
May Lord Rama and Mother Sita bless us all. May They give good sense and devotion to us all.
Om Sri Sita-Ramabhyam Namah.
Om Sri Hanumante Namah.
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
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