Prabhas was in Delhi on Wednesday to perform the Ravana dahan at the world’s largest ramlila, organised annually at the Red Fort grounds. On Dussehra every year, the Luv Kush Ramlila invites a dignitary to perform the Ravana dahan, and this year, Prabhas had the honour. Incidentally, the actor is playing Lord Ram in his upcoming film Adipurush, which is based on the Ramayana epic. Fans reacted to pictures and videos of the actor from the event, calling him ‘spitting image of Lord Ram’. Also read: Adipurush director Om Raut says he’s ‘not surprised’ with negative reaction to teaser
Prabhas shared the stage at the Luv Kush Ramlila on Dussehra evening with Adipurush director Om Raut and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In pictures and videos shared from the event, Prabhas can be seen walking on to the stage holding Om Raut’s hand and waving to the fans. After he was felicitated by the organisers, the actor raised a gada (mace) in his hand to loud cheers from the crowd. As per the organisers, keeping the fans’ craze for Prabhas in mind, apart from Delhi Police personnel, three units of paramilitary forces and 140 bouncers were stationed at the event for security and crowd management.
At around 7pm, Prabhas took the bow and arrow and fired the ceremonial shot to mark the beginning of the Ravana dahan, the final act of the Ramlila on Dussehra. Pictures and videos of the moment were shared by fans of the actors widely. One fan wrote, “Doesn’t he look like the spitting image of Lord Ram. Perfect casting.” Another tweeted, “This image alone justifies why Om Raut was adamant on getting Prabhas to play Raghava in Adipurush.”
Adipurush is inspired from Ramayana and sees Prabhas as Raghava, with Kriti Sanon as Janaki, and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh, based on Ram, Sita, and Ravana, respectively. The film’s teaser was unveiled on Sunday morning to severe criticism for its ‘amateurish’ VFX. Many viewers criticised the teaser, calling it ‘animated’ and compared it unfavourably to the recent hit Brahmastra, as well as previous iterations of Ramayana on screen. The teaser was also screened for the audience at the Ramlila on Wednesday.
During a special 3D screening of the teaser recently, Om Raut reacted to the negative reviews to the teaser. He said, as reported by Indian Express, “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.”
Adipurush will be released in IMAX and 3D when it hits the theatres on January 12, 2023. Produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar of T-series, Raut, Prasad Sutar, and Rajesh Nair of Retrophiles, the mythological drama will be released in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.