Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah on Thursday threatened to ban Hindi films in the city unless the makers of Adipurush removed a scene from the film that refers to Sita as the daughter of India.
The movie is based on the Hindu epic Ramayana. There are conflicting claims about the birthplace of Sita, with some versions saying that the goddess was born in Sitamarhi in present-day India, and some saying that she was born in Janakpur in present-day Nepal.
On Thursday, Shah gave a three-day deadine to the makers of Adipurush to remove the dialogue from the film. “Until the line ‘Janaki is a daughter of India’ contained in the South Indian film ‘Adipurush’ is removed not just in Nepal but also in India, no Hindi films will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City,” the mayor wrote on Facebook.
Adipurush is slated to be released on Friday. The movie is directed by Om Raut and stars actors such as Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon.
The Kathmandu mayor’s criticism of the film comes weeks after political leaders in Nepal had objected to a mural interpreted as “Akhand Bharat” or unified India, which is installed in the new Parliament complex in Delhi.
Nepali politicians had expressed objections to the mural as it showed Lumbini – the birthplace…
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