Adipurush Controversy: Why Is Prabhas-Kriti Sanon Starrer Banned In 2 Nepal Cities?

Mayors of two cities in Nepal have enforced a ban on the screening of the newly-released film 'Adipurush'.

Film poster

Kathmandu: The screening of the mythological film 'Adipurush' has been put on hold in all cinema halls across Kathmandu and Pokkhran after mayors of these two cities raised objections to a dialogue mentioning Janaki as India's daughter in the film. On Friday, Nepal's film certification board also said that the permission to screen the film in theatres will be granted only after changing the dialogue that describes 'Sita as India's daughter'. Sita, also referred to as Janaki, is believed by many to have been born in Janakpur in southeast Nepal.

An announcement in this regard was made on Sunday with authorities directing all cinema halls in the Metropolitan city of central Nepal to stop the screening of not just 'Adipurush' but all Bollywood films starting from Monday onwards. An HT report mentioned that police personnel were deployed in 17 halls in Kathmandu to ensure that no Hindi film is screened.

Why Adipurush Got Banned In 2 Cities Of Nepal?

On Sunday, Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah stated that no Hindi film will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City until the dialogue in Prabhas and Kriti Sanon-starrer 'Adipurush' -  "Janaki is a daughter of India" is removed not just in Nepal but also in India. Sita, also referred to as Janaki, is believed by many to have been born in Janakpur in southeast Nepal. Pokhara was quick to follow suit. Pokhara Metropolis Mayor Dhanaraj Acharya said 'Adipurush' will be barred from screening from Monday onwards over the dialogue that Janaki is India's daughter. 

As controversy spiralled, 'Adipurush' dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla on Sunday took to social media and announced that makers of the movie had decided to 'revise some of the dialogues' after the film was criticised heavily for its pedestrian language. Shukla, who has penned the Hindi dialogues and songs of the multilingual saga, said the amended lines will be added to the film by 
this week.

Produced by T-Series, Retrophiles, and UV Creations, the mythological action film stars Prabhas as Raghava (Ram), Kriti Sanon as Janaki (Sita), Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Ravana), Sunny Singh as Shesh (Lakshman) and Devdutta Nage as Bajrang (Hanuman).

'Adipurush' is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made with a budget of Rs 500 crore. While the film has been performing exceptionally well at the Box Office as it collects rs 216 crore in just 3 days of its release, it has been panned severely for its poor VFX, screenplay, direction and its dialogues being 'indecent and objectionable. 

(With PTI inputs)