Prabhas to burn Ravana's effigy at Ramleela this year: a BJP tryst with actors

HYDERABAD: Actor Prabhas will be burning the effigy of Ravan at the popular Lav Kush Ramleela that will be held in Delhi this year. Ram Leela is a famous celebratory event in Delhi that is held every year during Dasara festive season.

This year, the organizing committee of the Ramleela Trust decided to honour Prabhas by making him burn Ravan's effigy. Lav Kush Ramleela committee head Arjun Kumar stated that since Prabhas is playing the role of Lord Rama in the upcoming film Adipurush, he is the best option to set Ravan on fire this year.

While Prabhas is the first South Indian to receive such an invite and honour, it's said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has influenced the Ramleela Trust to extend an invite to the actor who shot into national fame with SS Rajamouli's blockbuster 'Bahubali'. Incidentally, Rajamouli's father, Vijayendra Prasad, was nominated in the prominent personalities category to the Rajya Sabha by the Centre. As sequel to this generosity, the story writer started working on an OTT series on Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation for the BJP.

In fact, the BJP is focusing on cinema actors and artistes in the recent past, as a prequel to its effort in going for the kill in Telugu States. The BJP leadership proposes to attract the critical mass (voters) towards it by portraying the movie artistes as its poster boys before the elections. It's as part of this strategy that Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda met actors Jr NTR and Nithin respectively and they also intend to rope in Nikhil (Kartikeya fame). Now it's the turn of Prabhas.

He also said that like every year, there will be three effigies at the event - Ravana, Kumbakarna and Meghnaad. Prabhas will burn all those three effigies. The festive event will be held from September 26 to October 5.

Directed by Om Raut, Adipurush features Kriti Sanon as the female lead. She plays the role of Goddess Sita. Saif Ali Khan will be seen as Ravana. It is slated for a worldwide release on January 12, 2023, during the Sankranti festive season. Adipurush will have a pan-India release in multiple languages.