Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah bans screening of Hindi movies amid 'Sita is India's daughter' dialogue from Adipurush

The screening of all Hindi movies will be banned in Nepal's capital Kathmandu from Monday over the "objectionable" words and depiction of Sita in the mythological epic film Adipurush, a top city official announced on Sunday.

Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah defended the ban on all Hindi films in the Kathmandu Metropolitan area, saying the screening of the movie Adipurush without having one of its dialogues removed will cause "irreparable damage". "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 said. Shah said if they allow the screening of the movie, it would help "establish a distorted fact." He said it would cause "irreparable damage to our nationality, cultural unity" and deal a "blow to our national heroes."

Shah seems committed to halting the screening of all Hindi films currently being shown in all 17 cinema halls within the capital city. "All the cinema halls in Kathmandu will stop showing Indian films from Monday as per the instruction issued by the KMC", said Nabin Manandhar, spokesperson of the KMC. "We have already talked to the cinema hall owners in Kathmandu for cooperation and they have agreed to voluntarily halt screening Hindi movies within Kathmandu Metropolis from Monday", he said. The cinema halls may show Nepali films instead of screening Hindi movies from Monday, he added. 

Adipurush, which was released across India on Friday stars Prabhas as Raghav (Rama), 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. In India, the movie has been criticised for its poor VFX, offensive dialogues, and below-average performances from the actors.

Adipurush dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla said on Sunday the makers of the mythological epic film have decided to "revise some of the dialogues" after the film was criticised heavily for its pedestrian language. 

Meanwhile, the film is doing great business and is expected to earn more than Rs 100 crore in India during the first weekend itself. Production banner T-Series said the Om Raut-directed film minted Rs 100 crore globally on the second day of its release. "Adipurush continues to mesmerise audiences worldwide, surpassing expectations with a bumper opening of Rs 140 crore on Day 1, it adds Rs 100 crore on Day 2, taking the total collection to a phenomenal Rs 240 crore in just two days! Jai Shri Ram," T-Series said in a statement posted on its official Twitter page. The film has been released in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil languages.

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