The controversy of the Adi Purush – the result of the conflict of not accepting change.

For the last two days, a discussion between my colleagues and colleagues is in full swing. The teaser of the film Adipurush has been released on Sunday and with the release, a ruckus started on it. After seeing the teaser, some people are of the opinion that this is an injury on the Hindu faith, then someone feels that their deities and feelings are being made fun of. If someone is calling it creativity, liberty or freedom, so thought why not talk to these people on this only? I too jumped into this discussion, I can say with the claim that 99 percent of the people who question the film, and discuss the teaser, are yet to have detailed information about the story of the film and the portrayal of those characters in the film.

But if they have objections, then there is an objection on the look of the characters of the film. Actually, this whole dispute is about our own duality between accepting or not accepting any change. So far, the descriptions of different characters of Ramayana, which we have seen, read or heard in different classic texts, stories and TV serials, all of them have created the image of mythological characters and Gods in our mind, have carved a face. . Which we all have accepted. And he is sitting in our heart-o-mind. In such a situation, it is very difficult to tolerate if it is a new form, especially if it is a Mughuliya complexion.

Here I would like to mention a recent incident, a video is becoming very viral on Twitter these days, seeing Arun Govil, who played Lord Prabhu Shri Ram in the 1980s TV serial Ramayana made by Ramanand Sagar, at the airport. A woman sat at his feet, touching his prostrate feet. The woman was so emotional that her tears could not stop and her voice could not come out of her throat. It seemed as if she was seeing her Lord Shri Ram, not actor Arun Govil. In the same way, as soon as the mention of Ravana, who kidnapped Sita or Lord Hanuman, who burns golden Lanka, in the Ramayana, the same faces come to our mind and in front of our eyes, which we have seen or heard for years. In a chaupai of Hanuman Chalisa, Goswami Tulsidas writes while describing the form of Hanuman ji –

Hands wear the thunderbolt and flag, the shoulders are set on the moon!!

Till date no such poster or picture is found, in which the form of Bajrangbali Hanuman looks like anything other than the image formed from these lines. Whether the mustache of Lord Shri Ram is visible or the beard of Ravana has been shown. Amidst all the arguments, during the debate on this issue in Network 18’s famous debate show Aar Paar, actor Shahzad Khan even said that this whole controversy is happening only because Saif Ali Khan has played the role of Ravana. In this debate, actor Nasir Abdullah made an absurd argument and said that in those days there were no razors, so how can there be a clean shaven image of Ram in the forest?

In the teaser of about two and a half minutes, Lord Shri Ram, Mata Sita, Lankapati Ravana, Vanararaj Sugriva and Ram devotee Hanuman have been shown. People object to the fact that all the characters look different from their original form. Lord Shri Ram has a thick and beautiful mustache, Lankapati Ravana is shown in a black thick beard, angry and cruel face with no triple forehead. In mythology, black is shown in the teaser of the film Sone Ki Lanka, people are also opposed to the costume of Hanuman and Ravana.

If we try to put these things on the test of creativity, then a different perspective emerges. Believe that none of us have seen the real form of Lord Shri Ram till today, we have not seen the real face of Ravana and the radiance present on the face, and none of us have seen Lord Hanuman. But no one doubts Ravana’s erudition, knowledge and brilliance. Nor can any question be raised on the dignity, power, knowledge, piety and policy of Lord Shri Ram.

But, is this the only way to show the negativity of Ravana in films? Here the question is also on those agencies like the Censor Board, on whose shoulders the responsibility of verifying the facts of films is on their shoulders. Can in the name of creativity, something like this be allowed to change with the great men of any other religion? But, not once, not twice, but many times such tampering with the Sanatan traditions and beliefs has happened in the past. In recent years, Lord Shiva was ridiculed in the web series Tandav, and in the documentary Kali, the form of Maa Kali was molested.

In the film PK, an attempt was made to hurt Sanatan Dharma itself. At the same time, in the film O My God, the temples and worship system of Sanatan Dharma have been raised in question. However, there is another contradiction as well. In the last few periods, we ourselves have accepted the fierce form of our deities. Earlier the posters of Lord Shri Ram were in the form of a calm-minded archer, but now Lord Shri Ram’s fierce form is seen in most of the pictures. Lord Ram is seen in an aggressive posture by pulling the string of the bow. Similarly, the picture of Lord Rama is also becoming popular with anger. Which shows his fierce form. Not only this, we had come to hear in the stories that Lord Shiva had shown a fierce form, but usually his pictures of fierce form were not seen earlier, but later we accepted the pictures and posters of his fierce form as well. .

In the same way, Acharya Chatursen had also made some changes in his book Vayam Raksham regarding the form of Ravana, we also accepted them. Accepting these changes should not mean that Sanatan Dharma and beliefs should be targeted continuously. The film Aadipurush is going to be released in January next year, right now the controversy is increasing only on the teaser, so we should wait for the film so that it can be clear whether the characters and facts of mythological characters were distorted in the film. Is. And finally I come to the attention of the chaupai of Goswami Tulsi Das written in Ramcharitmanas-

About BloggerArun PandeySenior Editor

Arun Kumar Pandey is the senior editor of the News18 channel. After starting his career with the news agency PTI, Arun Kumar, who has 25 years of experience in journalism, has been a market editor for Star News and then the business channel CNBC Awaaz. He also held the position of Business and Market Editor in Zee Business. After this, he was a consulting editor at the digital network The Quint. He is one of the few selected journalists who have experience of working in important areas like news agency, digital platform, TV news and business news.

* This article was originally published here