Nepal: After Kathmandu, Pokhara; Dharan metropolis also bans Indian movies over 'Adipurush' dialogue row

Kathmandu [Nepal], June 19 : After the announcements by Kathmandu and Pokhara metropolis, the Dharan metropolis has also banned all Indian movies, following the 'Adipurush' dialogue controversy.

The move comes amid a row in the Himalayan country over the newly-released film, which allegedly depicts Sita as being born in India.

Harka Sampang, the mayor of Dharan announced the ban on Indian cinemas after the two metropolis imposed the restrictions.

Notably, there has been resonance in public as well with the decision of putting a ban on Indian films.

"Speaking about the recent movie- Adipurush and the controversy behind it, I completely respect and support the decision of our mayor Balen Shah. About 80 per cent of Nepali (Hindus) believes that Sita was born in Janakpur-Nepal and the dialogue was a direct attack on Nepali sovereignty," Ashmita Magar, a movie-goer told ANI.

"Everyone- Nepali and Indians know that Sita is the daughter of Nepal, and was born in Janakpur, Nepal. The plot of the movie does not make any sense," Ujwal Giri, another resident of Kathmandu told ANI.

The capital Kathmandu was the first amongst all the metropolis to ban the screening of Indian movies leaving the movie theatres almost deserted.

Indian movies usually gather much praise and reception, as few Nepali and Hollywood movies are favoured in the Himalayan Nation that has a close link to its southern neighbour.

On Sunday evening, Nepali capital Kathmandu's Mayor Balendra Shah enforced a ban on Indian movies following the 'Adipurush' dialogue controversy. In less than an hour of the KMC Mayor's decision, the Pokhara Mayor Dhanraj Acharya also sent letters to three movie theatres to halt the screening of all Indian movies starting Monday morning.

With orders from the mayors of both Metropolitan cities, the halls in both places have taken off the screening of Indian movies from their schedule and replaced it with Hollywood and Nepali movies.

Kathmandu Mayor on Sunday evening took to Facebook and announced a ban on the screening of all Indian movies by deploying the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police.

"Indian film Adipurush had dialogue claiming Janaki was India's daughter which is objectionable and we had given three days' ultimatum to correct it. There is no doubt that it is the first duty of every government, government agency, non-governmental sector and Nepali citizen to protect the national interest by keeping Nepal's freedom, independence and self-respect intact," the Kathmandu mayor stated in the post.

The mayor further claimed it is the duty of all the government authorities to protect the national interest and claimed the screening of movies will "damage" the national identity, nationality and cultural unity.

"If the film is shown as it is, it seems that Nepal's nationality, cultural unity and national identity will be severely damaged and irreparable damage will be done. Due to cultural encroachment on Nepal from that movie, this metropolitan city has attracted serious attention," the mayor stated.

Balen stated that the film is against the national interest and announced a ban on the screening of all the Indian cinemas in Kathmandu starting Monday morning.

"If the film is allowed to be shown in other areas within the country and abroad, it will establish a misleading fact, so it is prohibited to show any Indian film in the Kathmandu metropolitan city until the objectionable parts are removed from the said film," he said.

As per the mayor's secretariat, the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police has been deployed on Sunday evening and relayed the message to ban the screening of the Indian cinemas from Monday morning. The Kathmandu Metropolitan has 17 film halls, as per the record of the metropolis.

Soon after the announcement of the ban on screening in the Nepali capital, the 'T-Series', the production company of 'Adipurush' has written to Nepali Mayor stating it was "never intentional or deliberate to cause any disharmony for anyone".

In defence of the use of dialogue, the company also claimed that it wanted to show respect towards women quoting the dialogue which was objected by Nepali mayor in particular.

"We request you to view the film in its artistic form and support the intention of reaching out to a larger audience to create interest in our history," the letter signed by Radhika Das from the Super Cassette Industries Private Ltd also known as T-Series concludes.

The Hindi movie Adipurush released all across the globe on Friday contains dialogue that states 'Janaki is a daughter of India'. The dialogue, however, has been removed in Nepal after the censor board of Nepal objected to it and delayed its release for Friday.

The film company had silenced the dialogue after which it had got permission to screen in the theatres of Nepal. However, Friday's morning show didn't go as planned due to a delay in the circulation of the movie and fear of vandalism.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor on Friday wrote to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology requesting the latter to stop screening of Indian movies in Nepal unless an objectionable dialogue from a recently-released movie is omitted.

Kathmandu's Mayor also had sent the same copy to the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Film Development Board urging the government to take diplomatic initiatives with India to remove the dialogue.

Mentioning that Article 5 and Article 56 (6) of the Constitution have assigned the responsibility to federal, provincial and local governments for the protection of national interest, Shah has said the metropolis was concerned due to cultural encroachment by the movie.

Mayor Shah on Thursday also had warned that no Hindi films will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City until the controversial wording is removed not just in Nepal but also in India.

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