Mahabharat actor Gajendra Chauhan on Adipurush: I think there’s a conspiracy to destroy the minds of future generations with this film – Exclusive

Gajendra Chauhan, who played the role of Yudhisthir in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat, shared his views on the depiction of Ramayan in latest Bollywood film Adipurush.
Speaking to ETimes TV, he said, “The Ramayan and Mahabharat are not mythologies. These are histories that got destroyed in the Mughal period. But these epics are so strong that nobody could destroy them.I think the title itself is wrong. Lord Shri Ram was not Adipurush. Lord Shiva was the Adipurush who was the first one to enter this world. Lord Shri Ram cannot be Adipurush because he belonged to a dynasty. Secondly, I think that there’s a conspiracy to destroy the minds of future generations with this film. Some people have tried to change the image of our great men which has been viewed for many years.”
Talking about how the characters have been portrayed in the film, Gajendra Chauhan said, “We have never seen a photo of Shri Ram where he is sporting a mustache. They’re talking about changing the dialogues of Hanuman Ji but the arrow has left the bow. It can’t be retrieved. The film has already done the damage that it could have to history and the minds of the young generation.”
Adding further, he said, “The makers are saying that it’s been made for kids. The Mahabharat and Ramayan made by BR Chopra and Ramanand Sagar respectively was watched by everyone from kids to adults. What special have you done? Presenting deities in the form of cartoons is a crime I would say. There’s so much faith in these figures which they have tried to change.”
Former Chairman of FTII, he said, “The censor board should have put restrictions on this film. But now the audiences have done that. There’s a vast difference between the collections on the first day and the fifth day. People should just reject such films right away and not show them to their kids.”
He also expressed his thoughts on how the dialogues were written. He said, “Yeh giri hui soch ka natija hai. You write the way you think. Manoj Muntashir, who is a lyricist was given the job to write dialogues for the film. He has copied things from different sources and made a mess. He is too an egotistical man. He hasn’t achieved an inch of what Rahi Masoom Raza Saab had written in Mahabharat. When BR Chopra would call Rahi Masoom Raza, he used to call himself Pandit Rahi Masoom Raza. Look at his faith in the subject. When Doordarshan had warned (SS Gill used to be the DG at that time) BR Chopra not to take a Muslim to write dialogues, there will be riots in the country because of this Mahabharat. Chopra Saab had said, “Likhenge toh Rahi Masoom Raza likhenge, warna koi nahin likhenge.” There was a dialogue said by Raj Babbar in the beginning, which the government had taken an objection on, that, “Raja jo hai yogyata ke aadhar par nirdharit hona chahiye, na ki vanshvaad par.” The Rajiv Gandhi government at that time had asked to remove that dialogue. But Chopra said, ‘Hum chahte hi yehi hai ke is desh mein Raja yogyata ke aadhar par ho.’”
“One writer cannot do justice to a subject like Ramayan or Mahabharat. Chopra Saab used to have 8-10 writers. Sagar Saab also used to have a team of writers. People give credit to Rahi Masoom Raza. But he wrote only dialogues. The story was by Pandit Narendra Sharma. And there were other notable writers. We used to call BR Chopra as Papaji. I once told him that the gamble affects everyone but not Kunti. There should be a scene. So, he gestured Rahi Saab, “Rahi Saab, yeh Gajendra sahi keh raha hai. There should be a scene of the mother.” Chopra Saab kept insisting but Rahi Saab did not reply. Eventually, Rahi Saab said, “Chopra Saab you’re constantly asking me how Kunti was affected by this. I’ll write it when I become Kunti, no?” Only a writer who has complete confidence in himself will answer like this. Eventually, that scene came up when Kunti takes all her sons and questions Dhritarashtra. He wrote a brilliant scene. He used to get into every character,”
“The makers of Adipurush are deserving of how the audiences have reacted to their film,” he concluded.