Adipurush | Prabhas’s ‘Adipurush’ banned in Kathmandu, Nepal government reprimanded

Adipurush Poster (Photo Credits: Instagram) Kathmandu. Nepal’s capital Kathmandu will ban the screening of all Hindi films from Monday over “objectionable” words and portrayal of Sita in the film ‘Adipurush’. A top city official made the announcement on Sunday. Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah has defended the decision to ban all Hindi films in the Kathmandu Metropolitan Region (KMC), saying that “irreparable damage” would be caused by screening a dialogue from the film “Adipurush” without deleting it. Shah said in his Facebook post, “From Monday, June 19, screening of all Hindi films will be banned in the Kathmandu metropolitan area, as the objectionable words in the dialogues of the film ‘Adipurush’ have not yet been removed.” “We have already issued a notice three days ago to remove the objectionable part of the dialogue ‘Sita Mata Bharat ki Beti Hai’ from the film within three days,” he said. He said that “irreparable damage will be done to our nationalism, cultural unity” if the film is allowed to be screened. Shah appeared determined to block the screening of all Hindi films currently showing in all 17 cinemas in the capital city. KMC spokesperson Naveen Manandhar said, “As per the instructions issued by the KMC, all cinema halls in Kathmandu will stop showing Indian films from Monday.” “We have already spoken to cinema house owners in Kathmandu for cooperation and they have agreed to voluntarily stop screening Hindi films in cinema halls in Kathmandu from Monday,” he added. He said that cinema halls can show Nepali films instead of Hindi films from Monday. At the same time, on the instructions of Mayor Balendra Shah, the Ministry of Information and Communication has registered its serious objection on behalf of the Government of Nepal and termed the decision to ban the film as illegal. The ministry said that the dialogue of Adipurush, on which people had objections, was muted and allowed to run in theatres. Despite this, it is not right for some people to oppose it. It is not fair to oppose Nepal’s Censor Board after removing the word India and giving the certificate of broadcast. The ministry said that the censor board has been formed by the government regarding which film will or will not run in Nepal and it takes the final decision in such disputes. That’s why it is unfair to talk about anyone else going outside the jurisdiction in an illegal way and banning the exhibition of films. ‘Adipurush’ released across India on Friday. The film stars Prabhas as Lord Ram, Kriti Sanon as Mata Sita and Saif Ali Khan as Lankapati Ravana. ‘Adipurush’ has been released in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil languages. (with agency inputs)