'We have not made the Ramayan'

Manoj Muntashir Shukla seems to be unsure about whether Adipurush, for which he has written the dialogues, is a take on the Ramayan or not.

Until last week Muntashir was heard stoutly defending his version of the Ramayan. He told a news television channel, 'Humare yahan daadiyan, naniyan jab Ramayan ki kathaye sunati thi, jo isi bhaasha mein sunaati thi. Yeh dialogue jiska aapne zikar kiya, yeh iss desh ke sant, bade bade katha vachak aisi hi bolte hai jaise maine likha hai. I am not the first one to write this dialogue, it's already there.'

Now, Muntashir tells the Aaj Tak news channel, 'The film is called Adipurush. We have not made the Ramayan. We were just heavily inspired by the Ramayan.'

"So one week he defends the film as his own version of the Ramayan. The next week it is not the Ramayan at all,' a leading film-maker tells Subhash K Jha.

"If it is not the Ramayan, why are the names of the characters like Dashrath, Kaikeyi, Mandodari and Shurpnakha taken from the Ramayan? Damage control is required. But this is not helping."