Adipurush dialogue-writer Manoj cites threat to life, Mumbai cops provide security

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police are providing security to Manoj Muntashir Shukla, the dialogue writer of the film “Adipurush”, after he cited a threat to his life, an official said on Monday.

Police have intensified patrolling near Shukla's office in suburban Mumbai and adequate security is also being provided at his residence.

“We have received an application from Manoj Shukla and we are providing him security following a threat to his life,” the official said, adding that police are investigating the threat angle.

He said police are ensuring that necessary action is taken on Shukla's application.

Earlier in the day, a team of Mumbai Police visited Shukla's office and spoke to him about the threat.

“After assessing the threat perception, police have intensified patrolling near Muntashir's office. Adequate security is also being provided at his residence,” the official said.

Directed by Om Raut and produced by T-Series, the big-budget multilingual saga “Adipurush” has been panned on social media over its poor VFX and colloquial dialogues, with Shukla under fire for Lord Hanuman's dialogues in the 'Lanka Dahan' sequence, among others.

Many viewers and political party leaders pointed out the oversimplified language used by the characters, especially Bajrang (Hanuman) played by Devdatta Nage.
Different parts of Uttar Pradesh witnessed protests against the film on Monday with seers in Ayodhya demanding an immediate ban on “Adipurush” saying its dialogues made their “blood boil”.

A group of people staged a protest in Varanasi and tore posters of the film and the Hindu Mahasabha lodged a complaint with the Lucknow police against its makers and actors. A Hindu outfit also staged a protest outside a theatre in the temple town of Mathura.

Shukla on Sunday said the makers of the mythological epic film have decided to “revise some of the dialogues” after the Prabhas-starrer was criticised heavily for its pedestrian language.

Shukla had said the amended lines will be added to the film by this week.
“Adipurush”, which was released across the country in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil on Friday, stars Prabhas as Raghav (Ram), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (Sita) and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Raavan).

In his statement, which he wrote in Hindi, Shukla said it is possible that in a three-hour film, he may have written “something different from your imagination for 3 minutes of duration”, but viewers shouldn't hurry to label him as a “Sanatan drohi”.

Later, T-Series said the team has decided to make alterations to the dialogues of “Adipurush” in order to value “the input of the public”.