Om Raut’s Adipurush drew a massive backlash earlier this year. Writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla was among those who were called out for his work in the movie. Months after the release of the movie, Manoj spoke out as he went on to accept that it was a ”hundred percent mistake.”
Manoj wrote the Prabhas’ starrer movie, which was inspired by the Hindu epic Ramayan. The dialogue of the movie was deemed indecent and objectionable, and the way the epic was presented was a big issue and was slammed by the people for ”hurting their religious sentiments.”
During his recent interview with the Indian news channel Aajtak, Muntashir reacted to all the backlash as he went on to reveal that it was a mistake and nothing was intentional.
“There is no doubt about it. I am not such an insecure person that I would defend my writing skills by saying that I have
written well. It’s a 100 percent mistake. Yes, I made a big mistake. But, there was no bad intention behind that mistake. I had absolutely no intention of hurting the religion and causing trouble to Sanatan or to defame Lord Ram or to say something about Hanuman ji which is not there.”
”A mistake has been made. I have learned a lot from this accident and it was a great learning process. I will be very careful from now on,” he said.
Reflecting on his statement that he said, when the controversy erupted at the time of the release, Muntashir said, ”I feel that when people were furious, I should not have clarified at that time. This was my biggest mistake. I should not have spoken at that time. If people are angry with my clarification, then their anger is justified. Because that was not the time to clarify and today I understand that mistake.”Muntashir went on to reveal that he moved abroad after receiving death threats after the movie’s release. He said, “The world may consider you good and tomorrow it may be considered bad but for your family, you are a hero.”
At the end of the conversation, the writer said that he deserved a second chance after whatever happened. Directed by Om Raut, the movie stars Prabhas as Lord Ram, Kriti as Goddess Sita, Sunny Singh as Laxman, and Saif Ali Khan as Ravana. Made on a hefty budget of Rs 500 crore, Om Raut’s movie bombed at the box office and was seen as the biggest disappointment of this year when it comes to box office numbers.