'Adipurush' director Om Raut reveals if Prabhas was his first choice for Lord Ram's role

The upcoming Mythological drama Adipurush is one of the most anticipated movies of the year and is a retelling of the epic Ramayana. The movie boasts a star cast that includes Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon in the lead roles. The director of the movie, Om Raut sat down for an interview and revealed if actor Prabhas was his first choice for the role of Lord Rama. The filmmaker also delved in and explained the minor changes he made to make the movie stand out from its original source material, Ramayana.

Adipurush director reveals if Prabhas was his first choice

Director Om Raut sat down for an interview with Variety and spoke about his upcoming magnum opus Adipurush. The filmmakers shared that he wrote the script for the movie in 45 days during the first COVID-19 lockdown and the only actor Raut had in mind to play the lead was Prabhas. Raut shared that at the time he barely knew Prabhas at the time and called the actor to narrate the script. Raut shared that the Bahubali actor was impressed after just three scene descriptions. Raut then flew out from Mumbai to Hyderabad to meet Prabhas and talk in detail about the movie.

The filmmaker further explained how Adipurush will be different from the original source material Ramayana. He said, "Adipurush is set 7000 years ago and all the “touch points” are similar to the Ramayana, but with modern storytelling techniques." He revealed that Prabhas’ character is not called Rama, he will be called Raghav, another name for Rama. Sita, played by Kriti Sanon, will be called Janaki, while Saif Ali Khan’s Ravana will be called Lankesh. 

Adipiurush is one of the most expensive films to be made in Inda currently and reportedly has a budget of over RS 4 billion. The film was scheduled for theatrical release in Hindi and Telugu along with its dubbed versions in Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada on  August 11, 2022, but was later postponed due to the release of Laal Singh Chaddha. The movie also stars actor Sunny Singh as Lakshmana and Devdatta Nage as Hanuman.