Cinemas in Nepal’s two biggest cities – the capital Kathmandu and Pokhara on the shores of Lake Phewa – have imposed a ban on Bollywood films over an “objectionable” line in a new Indian action movie, ‘Adipurush’, which was released on June 16.
The mayors of Kathmandu and Pokhara have taken exception to a line that calls one of the main characters, Janaki, “India’s daughter.” Janaki is another name for the goddess Sita, wife of the Hindu god Lord Ram.
Nepal’s Hindus, who comprise about 80% of the population, believe that Sita was born in Janakpur about 220km from Kathmandu on the border with India but crucially, in their country. The film's reference has thus caused controversy in Nepal.
Balendra Shah, mayor of Kathmandu, issued a social media post ordering cinema halls in the capital to stop screening all Bollywood films. The makers of ‘Adipurush’ have been asked to remove the “objectionable dialogue,” he added. “No Indian film will be allowed to be screened in the Kathmandu municipality area until this objectionable part is removed from the film,” the post read.
Dhanraj Acharya, mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City, also asked movie theaters to stop screening Bollywood films, according to Indian news agency ANI.
The film’s co-writer, Manoj Muntashir Shukla, has agreed to rework some dialogue, saying: “I wrote more than 4,000 lines of dialogue for ‘Adipurush’, but some sentiments were hurt by five lines.” It was not immediately clear if he was referring to “hurting the sentiments” of people in Nepal or India.
‘Adipurush’ was panned by movie critics but nevertheless had a successful opening, earning the equivalent of over $41 million worldwide in its first screening weekend. The film has broken the record set by ‘Pathaan’, which was released in January and features Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh.
Bollywood and Nepal have also had an uneasy relationship. In 2000, four people were killed during rioting in Kathmandu over alleged anti-Nepal comments by Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, which he vehemently denied.