Seat reserved for Lord Hanuman in theatres screening 'Adipurush'

A seat bedecked with flowers and a picture of Lord Hanuman, another wrapped in saffron with a garland framing a photograph of the god and the words “Jai Shri Ram” in Hindi. That is how it was in many theatres across the country as crowds streamed in to watch Adipurush, a retelling of the Ramayana.

Some were seen offering prayers, others pausing for a moment and there were, of course, those clicking mandatory selfies of the unusual sight before they settled down to watch the film. There were also incense sticks and coconuts seen in videos from some cinema halls.

The multilingual 3-D spectacle, which released on Friday amid much fanfare, is directed by Om Raut and stars Prabhas as Raghav, Kriti Sanon as Janaki and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh.

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A video showed a fan dressed as Hanuman greeting movie-goers outside a theatre. Another purportedly showed a man in Hyderabad being beaten up for sitting on the seat reserved for the Hindu god.

At a promotional event in Tirupati ahead of the film’s release, director Raut requested the producers T Series to reserve one seat in every screening of "Adipurush" as a mark of respect for Lord Hanuman.

"Everywhere in the world, wherever there is an Adipurush show, I request the producer and distributor to keep one seat for Hanuman ji; he will come to see Ramayan," Raut said.