A film poster on Parashuram appeared on social media. And he looked terribly angry. Why? The answer in all probability will be revenge. In Bollywood’s new-found love for Sanatani mythology, everything boils down to revenge. The Ramayana is about Shurpanakha’s desire for revenge. The Mahabharata is about Draupadi’s desire for revenge. Parashuram’s film adaptation is likely to be about him avenging the death of his father. More appropriately, those who stole his father’s cows. How else would it be a dharmic war?

Most likely, modern film adaptations will ignore the part why Parashuram picked up the axe (parashu) in the first place. Parashuram’s father wanted to behead his wife, Renuka, because she momentarily desired another man. On his orders, Parashuram picks up an axe and does the needful. Pleased, his father offers him a boon and he promptly asks for his mother to be resurrected. By the sacred powers of his father, Parashuram is able to stick his mother’s severed head back onto her body.