Adipurush director Om Raut on teaser being bashed online: Given a choice, I’d never put it on YouTube

Om Raut, the director, claims that even a brief trailer of his upcoming epic Adipurush is too large to fit on a smartphone and that the picture was designed for the big screen, where its VFX, scale, and treatment will look stunning. The grandly-launched, one-minute-and-fifty-second preview, which was released in Ayodhya on Sunday, drew social media trolls who criticised its visual effects and world-building.

During an interaction with Indian Express, Raut discussed the crowd emotions and the reasons he wasn't shocked during a special 3D screening of the teaser, which was more immersive and undoubtedly an improvement over the 2D teaser that was initially released.

The filmmaker was definitely discouraged, but not unexpected, as the movie was designed for a bigger medium—the big screen. One can reduce it to some extent, but not to the level of a mobile phone. Raut has no power over that setting. If he had his way, he would never upload anything to YouTube, but it's necessary right now. Raut also remarked that they need to put it there so that it reaches a wide audience.

The director, whose directorial debut, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, similarly relied heavily on visual effects, said he just intended for this to be a brief window into the world of Adipurush for the audience to enjoy before the movie's January 12 release.

Raut's partner and the studio, T-Series, runs the largest YouTube channel in the world. This movie does call for a relatively rare moviegoer audience, especially those of the senior population who don't frequent theatres or those who live in remote areas without access to them. Because the movie is based on the Ramayana, they need those folks to attend.

According to Raut, he shot the movie in a way that appeals to a generation of viewers, from the young to the old, who are addicted to watching international content. They are doing it in this way to reach the younger generation, which has grown up with world news. The makers are attempting to communicate with them in their language in an effort to contact them. Because of this, it needs to be ingested in a specific manner and in a larger sense.

The filmmaker continued, saying that they must engage a larger audience and excite them because it is not designed for tiny screens. Raut was not shocked, as the film is designed for a bigger screen, and he couldn't view it on a smaller screen.

Adipurush is produced by T-Series, Bhushan and Krishan Kumar, Om Raut, Prasad Sutar, and Rajesh Nair of Retrophiles.