#BanAdipursh trends on Twitter while cities in Nepal cancel all Hindi movies

The newly released Adipurush as well as all Hindi movies were banned in Nepal's capital Kathmandu and its tourist town Pokhara on Monday, 19 June.

A section of Indian people on Twitter have also been demanding a ban on the movie.

The controversy in Nepal started with a portion of the dialogue that identifies Sita as "India's daughter"—the popular understanding is that her birthplace is in Nepal. Police personnel have been deployed across 17 halls in Kathmandu to ensure that no Hindi film is screened in any of them.

Adipurush, a retelling of the Ramayana, is directed by Om Raut and headlined by Prabhas and Kriti Sanon.

In addition to cancelled screenings in various places across Nepal, a section of the Twitterati in India too are calling for a ban on the movie. Those who have been tweeting the hashtag #BanAdipurush mostly see it as a misrepresentation of the Ramayana or of the iconic godheads who are the movie's main characters.

“Demand to ban Adipurush movie in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. Ab toh sharm karo makers [for shame, makers!],” said a person from Chattisgarh, sharing a video of the protest outside a theatre in Raipur, Chattishgarh.

Another person tweeted, "This film has distorted our historical and cultural characters, if it is not banned then it will have more side effects which will be fatal for the future of the country."

In Kathmandu, city mayor Balendra Shah had already said on Sunday, 18 June, that no Hindi film would be allowed to screen in Kathmandu metropolitan city until the line "Janaki is a daughter of India" was 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.

According to Kathmandu's mayor, screening Adipurush without that line being removed will cause "irreparable damage".

"Screening of all the Hindi films will be barred within Kathmandu Metropolitan City from Monday, June 19, as the objectionable words in the dialogue of the film Adipurush have not yet been removed," he said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

"We have already issued notice three days ago to remove the objectionable portion of the dialogue that 'Sita is India's daughter' from the movie within three days," he added.

Shah's post sent Nepali social media into a frenzy, with many users welcoming the mayor's decision and others denouncing it.

Pokhara was quick to follow suit. Pokhara metropolis mayor Dhanaraj Acharya said Adipurush will be barred from screening from Monday, 19 June.

Another Twitter user compared the movie to the Doordarshan TV serial from the 1980s, saying, "Act in such a way that after 34 years people bow down to you as God!! #ArunGovil #BanAdipurushMovie." The user shared a vintage video where Arun Govil, the actor who played Rama in the TV series and who is now a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was spotted by his fans, who bowed down to him as though he were the eponymous deity.

Although Twitter is divided between support for the movie and cancel culture, movie-goers and critics alike have largely been critical of Adipurush's treatment of the Hindu mythology and of the associated religious icons.

As the controversy spiralled, Adipurush dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla on Sunday said the makers of the movie had decided to "revise some of the dialogues" after the film was criticised heavily for its linguistic register, ranging from pedestrian to coarsely vulgar.

Shukla, who has penned the Hindi dialogue and songs of this multilingual saga, said the amended lines will be added to the film by this week.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) police chief Raju Pandey said the police checked with all cinema halls within the city limits on Sunday. He said, "We got a positive response during the inspection on Sunday and we are now monitoring all the cinema halls from Monday morning."

He added, "While monitoring QFX Hall at Civil Mahal in Kathmandu... they said they will show Nepali and English movies instead of Hindi ones. We will not allow screening of Hindi movies until the KMC authority gives permission."

"No one is greater than the nation, so all the parties must support the move when our national interest and cultural identity is in question," said lawmaker Sunil K.C. from Bagmati province, where Kathmandu is situated, and youth leader of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party.

A security guard who works at Rising Mall's Q Cinema in Kamaladi, Kathmandu, said the theatre stopped screening Adipurush after showing the movie once on Friday evening, and replaced it with a Nepali movie on Monday.

Produced by T-Series, Retrophiles and UV Creations, Adipurush stars Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh (Ravana), Sunny Singh as Shesh (Lakshman) and Devdutta Nage as Bajrang (Hanuman).

With inputs from PTI