Adipurush controversy in Nepal: This dialogue on Sita in Prabhas' film has led all Hindi films to be banned in Kathmandu

On Thursday, a day ahead of the release of Pm Raut’s ambitious film Adipurush, the Mayor of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu tweeted that the film won’t be allowed to release in the city. The reason was a single line of dialogue pertaining to Sita (Janaki in the film, played by Kriti Sanon). And even as Adipurush makers have agreed to remove the line, the controversy has snowballed into something so major that all Hindi films are now banned in Kathmandu.

What is the controversial line on Sita from Adipurush?

The trailer of Adipurush showed Raghava (Lord Rama), played by Prabhas, refer to Sita/Janaki as a daughter of India. The exact line has Raghava tell the vanara sena that they must set an example in Lanka so that nobody can lay a hand on any daughter of India again, a reference to Ravana’s abduction of Sita.

Why are people in Nepal angry at this Adipurush line?

Why the line becomes controversial is because there are multiple claims about where Sita came from. Ramayana, most versions of it, describe her as the princess of Mithila. Most Indian mythologists and historians agree that Mithila is in modern-day east UP and Bihar, where the language Maithili is still spoken. However, Nepalese belief is that Sita came from modern-day Janakpur in Nepal, which is named after her father Janak (and the reason she was called Janaki). This has meant that they take offence to any piece of literature or art implicitly describing Sita/Janaki as belonging from India.

pic.twitter.com/LpVn6Cogns

— Balen Shah (@ShahBalen) June 18, 2023

Why are all Indian films banned in Kathmandu?

Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah said that the inclusion of the phrase in Adipurush is ‘objectionable’ and said that unless it is removed, the film will not allowed to be screened in Kathmandu. Shah later added that unless the makers remove the said line of dialogue from the film, no Hindi film will be allowed to release in the Nepalese capital. On Friday, the Nepal Film Union also urged halls to stop screening of all Indian films, following which several major theatre chains stopped the screenings. In a statement, Nepal’s QFX Cinemas said: "Keeping the security of our viewers, QFX is not going to show Adipurush... We are waiting for the government`s decision. As soon as this issue is resolved, we will issue another notice and apologise for the inconvenience to our viewers."