'Adipurush' Controversy: Kathmandu Mayor enforces ban on Indian movies

Mayor of Kathmandu Balendra Shah has enforced a ban on Indian movies in Nepals capital following the Adipurush dialogue controversy As per the announcement of Mayor Shah the film halls in the capital Kathmandu have taken off the screening of Hindi or Bollywood movies from their schedule and replaced them with Hollywood and Nepali moviesThe Mayor on Sunday evening took to Facebook and announced the ban on screening of all Indian movies by deploying the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Indian film Adipurush had dialogue claiming Janaki was Indias daughter which is objectionable and we had given three days ultimatum to correct it There is no doubt that it is the first duty of every government government agency nongovernmental sector and Nepali citizen to protect the national interest by keeping Nepals freedom independence and selfrespect intact the Kathmandu mayor stated in the postThe mayor further claimed it is the duty of all the government authorities to protect the national interest and claimed the screening of movies will damage the national identity nationality and cultural unity If the film is shown as it is it seems that Nepals nationality cultural unity and national identity will be severely damaged and irreparable damage will be done Due to cultural encroachment on Nepal from that movie this metropolitan city has attracted serious attention the mayor statedBalen stated that the film is against the national interest and announced a ban on the screening of all the Indian cinemas in Kathmandu starting Monday morning If the film is allowed to be shown in other areas within the country and abroad it will establish a misleading fact so it is prohibited to show any Indian film in the Kathmandu metropolitan city until the objectionable parts are removed from the said filmAs per the mayors secretariat the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police was deployed on Sunday evening and relayed the message to ban the screening of the Indian cinemas from Monday morning The Kathmandu Metropolitan has 17 film halls as per the record of the metropolis Soon after the announcement of the ban on screening in Kathmandu TSeries the production company of Adipurush has written to Nepali Mayor stating it was never intentional or deliberate to cause any disharmony for anyoneIn defence of the use of dialogue the company also claimed that it wanted to show respect towards women quoting the dialogue which was objected by the mayor in particular We request you to view the film in its artistic form and support the intention of reaching out to a larger audience to create interest in our history the letter signed by Radhika Das from the Super Cassette Industries Private Ltd also known as TSeries concludesThe Hindi movie Adipurush released all across the globe on Friday contains dialogue that states Janaki is a daughter of India The dialogue however has been removed in Nepal after the censor board of Nepal objected to it and delayed its release for Friday The film company had silenced the dialogue after which it had got permission to screen in the theatres of Nepal However Fridays morning show didnt go as planned due to a delay in the circulation of the movie and fear of vandalismThe Kathmandu Metropolitan City KMC Mayor earlier on Friday has written to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology requesting the latter to stop screening Indian movies in Nepal unless an objectionable dialogue from a recentlyreleased movie is omitted Shah also sent the same copy to the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Film Development Board urging the government to take diplomatic initiatives with India to remove the dialogueMentioning that Article 5 and Article 56 6 of the Constitution have assigned the responsibility to federal provincial and local governments for the protection of national interest Shah has said the metropolis was concerned due to cultural encroachment by the movie Mayor Shah on Thursday also warned that no Hindi films will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City until the controversial wording is removed not just in Nepal but also in IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever