Kathmandu, Pokhara ban all Hindi films amid Adipurush dialogue row

Digital Desk: In response to the Adipurush dialogue controversy, the Pokhara Metropolitan City joined the Kathmandu Metropolis in imposing a ban on the screening of Indian films.

The mayor of Pokhara made a statement in this respect on Sunday, ordering theatres in the metropolitan area of central Nepal to stop showing all Bollywood films as of Monday morning.

On Sunday, Balendra Shah, the mayor of Kathmandu enformed a ban on screening the controversial movie in the city.

Due to the "objectionable" word and portrayal of Sita in the mythological epic film Adipurush, all Hindi films will no longer be screened in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, from Monday, a top city official announced. Balendra Shah, the mayor of Kathmandu, defended the ban on screenings of any Hindi films in the Kathmandu Metropolitan Area by claiming that doing so would result in "irreparable damage" if the dialogue from the film Adipurush not changed.

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"Screening of all the Hindi films will be barred within Kathmandu Metropolitan City from Monday, June 19, as the objectionable words in the dialogue of the film ‘Adipurush’ has not yet been removed,” Shah said in his Facebook post. 

 

"We have already issued notice three days ago to remove the objectionable portion of the dialogue that 'Sita is India’s daughter' from the movie within three days," he added.

Shah said if they permit the film to be shown, it would help in "establishing a distorted fact". He claimed it would inflict a "blow to our national heroes" and do "irreparable damage to our nationality, cultural unity."

Shah seems committed to putting a stop to all current Hindi film screenings in the 17 theatres located throughout the nation's capital. According to the KMC's directive, all movie theatres in Kathmandu will stop screening Indian films starting from Monday, according to KMC spokesperson Nabin Manandhar.

 

"We have already spoken to the owners of Kathmandu's movie theatres for cooperation, and they have voluntarily agreed to stop screening Hindi films within Kathmandu Metropolis from Monday," he said. He stated that starting on Monday, Nepali films might be screened in place of Hindi ones in the theatres.

 

Adipurush, which was released across India on Friday stars Prabhas as Raghav (Ram), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (Sita), and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Raavan).

 

The dialogue on Sita is not the only problem Adipurush is facing with audiences. The film faced criticism in India for its poor VFX, obscene dialogue, and the actors' below-par performances. Manoj Muntashir Shukla, the film's dialogue writer, claimed on Sunday that the producers of the legendary epic movie had decided to "revise some of the dialogues" after the movie received harsh criticism for its pedestrian language.

The movie is now performing quite well commercially and is projected to gross over Rs. 100 crore in India just within the first weekend. The Om Raut-directed movie reportedly made Rs 100 crore on its second day of release, according to production banner T-Series.