Kathmandu and Pokhara prohibit Hindi movies after ‘Adipurush’ phrase row 2023
After an uproar over its language, all Hindi films were banned in Kathmandu and Pokhara on Monday.
17 Kathmandu venues were policed to prevent Hindi film screenings. ”Adipurush”, directed by Om Raut and starring Prabhas and Kriti Sanon, is the center of the row. Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah declared Sunday that no Hindi film would be shown in Kathmandu Metropolitan City unless the sentence “Janaki is a daughter of India” in “Adipurush” is deleted in Nepal and India.
Many think Sita (Janaki) was born in Janakpur, southeast Nepal. Pokhara quickly followed. Pokhara Metropolis Mayor Dhanaraj Acharya stated ”Adipurush” will be banned from screening from Monday.
Kathmandu mayor says showing “Adipurush” without removing a conversation will create “irreparable damage”.
Adipurush Bans in Kathmandu
“All 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,” he said on Sunday on Facebook.
”We have already issued notice three days ago to delete the objectionable section of the language stating ‘Sita is India’s daughter’ from the movie within three days,” he added.
Shah’s tweet polarized Nepali social media, with some applauding the mayor’s move and others criticising it. On Sunday, ”Adipurush” dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla claimed the film’s creators had chosen to “revise some of the dialogues” after the film was extensively criticized for its pedestrian language.
Shukla, who wrote the Hindi dialogue and music for the multilingual tale, said the corrected lines will be added this week.
Raju Pandey, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Police head, said the police examined city movie halls on Sunday per the mayor’s orders.
“We got a positive response during the inspection on Sunday and we are now monitoring all the cinema halls from Monday morning,” Pandey added.
”While watching QFX Hall at Civil Mahal in Kathmandu… they indicated they would screen Nepali and English movies instead of Hindi ones. We won’t play Hindi movies unless the KMC gets permission, he added.
Sunil K C, Bagmati Province MP and Rastriya Prajatantra Party youth leader, said, “No one is greater than the nation, so all the parties must support the move when our national interest and cultural identity is in question.”
Q’s Cinema at Rising Mall in Kamaladi Kathmandu ceased exhibiting “Adipurush” after one showing on Friday evening, according to a security guard. “Now, we are screening Nepali film ‘Neer Phool’ from Monday,” he said. Saif Ali Khan plays Lankesh (Ravana), Sunny Singh plays Shesh (Lakshman), and Devdutta Nage plays Bajrang (Hanuman) in the T-Series, Retrophiles, and UV Creations film.
