How ‘HanuMan’ scored while ‘Adipurush’ missed the mark

HanuMan starts with the well-known story of young Hanuman trying to gobble up the Sun and being attacked by Lord Indra with his vajra. Thereafter, the tale takes a new turn. A drop of blood from Hanuman’s mouth falls into an oyster and becomes the Rudhiramani (blood jewel), waiting for a righteous man to come and claim it. The film then introduces us to Hanumanthu (Teja Sajja), a good-for-nothing fellow with sticky fingers and a golden heart, living in a fictional village named Anjanadri, ruled by Poligar, a ruthless local leader. Following a fight with Poligar’s henchmen, in a stunning underwater sequence, Hanumanthu finds Rudhiramani, which ends up giving him super powers.

Adipurush begins with the beautiful ‘Ram Siya Ram’ song, but it fails to do justice to the emotions evoked by the revered mythological figures of the Ramayan. As a result, the audience was subjected to banality in the name of entertainment and buffoonery was passed off as acting. Most of the buffoonery is reserved for Hanuman, the same way one seat was reserved for him in all the theatres playing Adipurush.

Though HanuMan too draws inspiration from the Ramayana, what sets it apart from Adipurush is that it manages to be both inventive and entertaining, with well-done humour. The supporting cast, including Getup Srinu, Satya and Vennela Kishore, show their comedic talent while, as the titular protagonist, Teja Sajja does the heavy-lifting and shows his range, going from being a goofy lover to showing off his skills as an action hero.

The music by Gowra Hari adds to the film’s appeal. It perfectly matches the emotions and theme of the story, especially the hymns related to Lord Hanuman. The song sequence that narrates a folk tale about Hanuman and pickles, as Hanumanthu fends off the baddies, is a treat to watch.

Earlier, most superhero movies, including those belonging to Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), relied more on the power and authenticity of the story than CGI. In fact, the recent Marvel movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and The Marvels (2023), have come under fire for bland storytelling and over dependence on CGI. Adipurush too was afflicted by similar problems. HanuMan, however, instead of banking on visual effects excessively, works on making the story entertaining with relatable characters.

The long roster of MCU superheroes are fairly new to the world of stories and popular culture compared to Indian mythological characters. Hanuman, the much-loved monkey god, possesses most of the superpowers that have been assigned to Marvel heroes. Ant-man can shape-shift, while the Hulk grows in size and strength when angry, with the ability to cause great destruction. Superman lifts tall buildings and aircraft at will. Indians might have heard similar stories about Hanuman’s strength and power while growing up.

Varma announced HanuMan, his fourth feature, soon after the release of Zombie Reddy (2021), reportedly the first zombie movie in Telugu. When HanuMan was released on Sankranti this year, it registered better collections than Mahesh Babu-starrer Guntur Kaaram, Saindhav featuring Venkatesh Daggubati, and Naa Saami Ranga starring Nagarjuna Akkineni, which had also released in the same week.

Collections aside, what has got movie lovers excited is that Varma, who has re-imagined the popular mythological hero in a fascinating new context, has laid the foundation for a unique “cinematic universe”. We are looking forward to more tales set in this universe hitting the big screen.

The writer is a banking professional