Why was ‘Adipurush’ removed from the Tribeca Film Festival?

While Om Raut’s Adipurush has opened to mixed reviews, the film seems to have missed its very important premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Earlier, it was announced that Adipurush would have its impressive premiere at Tribeca on June 13. The date was later shifted to June 15. Finally, Adipurush quietly disappeared from the Tribeca lineup altogether.

There was no official announcement as to why the film disappeared. The Adipurush producers were probably hoping the matter would slide out of sight.

After much persuasion, a source from the production team told this writer that the film was “not ready” in time for its Tribeca premiere, which is a far-fetched explanation considering the premiere was just a few days ahead of the film’s worldwide release.

However, it seems that the Tribeca Festival decided to drop Adipurush anticipating a backlash from both staunch Hindutva elements who are blindly supporting the film but believe it to be below expectations, and from those Hindutva elements who are opposed to the very idea of any onscreen adaptation of the Ramayan.