Manoj Muntashir says ‘Adipurush’ was a ‘mistake’; shares he left India after receiving death threats

Writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla has admitted that he made a mistake by writing Om Raut’s ‘Adipurush’. He added that defending himself publicly in the immediate aftermath of the film’s disastrous debut was the worst thing that he could’ve done.

In a chat with AajTak, Manoj said, ‘A mistake has been made, a big 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 added, ‘I should not have spoken at that time. If people are angry with this, then their anger is justified.’

Manoj Muntashir faced massive backlash for writing scenes in which Hanuman spoke in colloquialisms; these lines were altered following the film’s release, but that didn’t sway audience sentiment.

The writer further said that his family became concerned for his safety as he started receiving death threats following the film’s release.

‘The world may consider you good and tomorrow it may be considered bad but for your family you are a hero,’ he said.

He also revealed that he moved abroad for some time and waited for the controversy to die down.

In conclusion, the writer said that he deserves a ‘second chance’ on the strength of his past work, which includes the Hindi translation for the Telugu-language ‘Baahubali’ blockbusters, and the hit tracks ‘Teri Mitti’ and ‘Desh Mere.’

He said, ‘I say this with great pride that today in this country you cannot celebrate Ram Navami, Diwali, Dussehra without my songs.’

In earlier interviews, Manoj also quoted from the Ramayana and explained why he’d made certain creative choices in the film.

‘Adipurush’ failed to recover its massive reported budget of Rs 600 crore. The main cast – Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon – didn’t utter a word about the debacle, but Manoj allowed himself to be interviewed several times.

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