Cinema halls across Kathmandu in Nepal stopped the screening of Adipurush on Friday, June 16, a day after Mayor Balen Shah warned that no Indian movie will be allowed in the Nepal capital if the film based on the Hindu epic Ramayana does not correct the mistake about the birthplace of Sita. The Nepal Film Union has urged all the cinema halls in Kathmandu to stop screening Adipurush, and instructed cinemas outside the capital to release it only after assessing the security situation.
Stating in a tweet on Thursday that the film claims “Sita is the daughter of India”, the Mayor added that until this mistake is corrected in both India and Nepal, no Indian movie will be allowed to be shown within the Kathmandu metropolitan city limit. “Until and unless the slogan 'Janki is a daughter of India' in the South Indian film Adipurush is corrected not only in Nepal but also in India, no Hindi film will be allowed to run in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Three days have been given to correct this. Hail Mother Sita,” he wrote in Nepali.
दक्षिण भारतीय फिल्म ‘आदिपुरुष’मा समावेश ‘जानकी भारतीय छोरी हुन्’ भन्ने सब्द जबसम्म नेपालमा मात्र नभै भारतमा पनि सच्चिदैन तब सम्म काठमाडौ महानगर पालिका भित्र कुनै पनि हिन्दी फिल्म चल्न दिइने छैन ।
— Balen Shah (@ShahBalen) June 15, 2023
यो सच्याउन ३ दिनको समय दिइएको छ ।
माता सीताको जय होस । pic.twitter.com/4VwEhEgOki
The film is written and directed by Om Raut and produced by T-Series and Retrophiles. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, the film has courted controversy in India as well.
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.”
Nepal's Censor Board also reportedly decided to hold back permission to the upcoming Indian epic mythological film, based on the Hindu epic Ramayana, for the same reason. As per the Ramayana, Sita was born in Janakpur, which is believed to be in present day Nepal, where Rama came and married her.
Besides Mayor Balen Shah, sister organisations of various political parties have also protested against the film and warned that they will not allow the screening until the filmmakers correct the mistakes regarding the birthplace of Sita.
This is not the first time that Mayor Shah has ratcheted up nationalist planks. On June 8, Mayor Shah placed the map of Greater Nepal in his chamber to counter the Indian ‘Akhand Bharat’ map in the new Parliament building. The new Indian map has incorporated some of the Nepali territories such as Lumbini and Kapilvastu, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha. Nepal and India are already facing a boundary row over Kalapani, Lipu Lekh, and Limpiyadhura.
At one time, the territory of Nepal spread from Teesta in the east to Sutlej in the west. However, after a war with the British, it lost a large part of its land. After the war, the territories from Mechi to Teesta and from Mahakali to Sutlej were permanently annexed to India. On March 4, 1816, the Sugauli Treaty was signed between Nepal and the East India Company, which reduced the territory of Nepal to Mechi-Mahakali. The ‘Greater Nepal’ map incorporates east Teesta to west Kangra, which is currently part of India.
Meanwhile, Nepal's main opposition, the CPN (UML) – the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) – has demanded that the country send a diplomatic note to India to protest the ‘Akhand’ map. “The government should immediately send a diplomatic note to India protesting against the Indian mural that has allegedly depicted some places of Nepal in it,” Raghuji Pant, a UML lawmaker said in Parliament on Thursday.