Manoj Muntashir: Adipurush Songs Had No Lack of Devotion

Manoj Muntashir has stepped back into the Ramayana discourse — not to defend Adipurush, but to defend the music the film left behind. As Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana Part 1 prepares for a November 5 worldwide release, its devotional tracks are being debated online, and some listeners have reached back to the much-ridiculed 2023 epic as a point of comparison.

Muntashir’s reply on X was blunt. He accused a news channel of making a lazy comparison and then offered a split verdict of his own: Adipurush was a bad film, its dialogues were worse, and its songs were something else entirely.

A defence of devotion, not of the film

He wrote in Hindi that he wished his “stunt” had been repeated in Ramayana‘s songs. His argument was that Adipurush‘s music achieved a cultural reach the film never managed. “Every child in the country sings them,” he said, adding that a visit to Ayodhya would reveal Adipurush songs playing in every alley.

Then came the line that has travelled furthest:

I didn’t write nursery rhymes for Ram, nor qawwalis.

Muntashir said there was no lack of devotion, dedication or poetry in the songs. He repeated that he had apologised to devotees for the film’s mistakes and been forgiven, but asked that the music not be challenged.

Why Ramayana’s music is under a microscope

Ramayana‘s score arrives with rare billing — AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer — so every track is being judged twice: once as cinema and once as worship. The early response to the song Mangal Rang was mixed before many listeners warmed to it, and the Adipurush comparisons became part of that back-and-forth.

For Muntashir, the response is personal because the songs carried the devotion the film did not. The situation also highlights a truth of Hindi film: music can outlive a film’s box office, especially when it speaks the language of bhakti.

The two projects, side by side

• Adipurush (2023) starred Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan, was made on a reported budget of Rs 550 crore, and fell more than Rs 200 crore short of breaking even.
• It was panned by critics, hurt by negative word of mouth, and caught in controversies over dialogue and character portrayal.
• Ramayana Part 1, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, stars Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Yash as Ravana and Sai Pallavi as Sita, and opens worldwide on November 5, just before Diwali.
• Part two is expected around Diwali 2027.

What this means for fans

The exchange is a reminder to judge a film’s music and its storytelling as separate crafts — and to notice how the same story can be sung two very different ways. Ramayana will have to earn its own musical legacy, and the real test begins with audiences who grew up singing these verses at home. Muntashir has made peace with his film’s failure; he is asking the world to leave its songs alone.

Source: The Times of India