Nepal: After Kathmandu, Pokhara also bans screening of Adipurush

Standing in unison  alongside Kathmandu Metropolis, the Pokhara Metropolitan City has also enforced a ban on the screening of Indian films following the Adipurush dialogue controversy.An announcement in this regard was made by Pokhara Mayor on Sunday, directing cinema halls in the Metropolitan city of central Nepal to stop screening of all Bollywood films starting from Monday morning.The mayor of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, Balendra Shah, had imposed a ban on Indian films earlier on Sunday evening. Dhanraj Acharya, the mayor of Pokhara, addressed letters to three theatres shortly after the announcement ordering them to stop showing any Indian films.

Following directives from the mayors of both Metropolitan cities, Hindi and Bollywood film screenings have been replaced by Hollywood and Nepali film screenings in both of these locations.On Sunday night, the Kathmandu Mayor announced a ban on the screening of any Indian films on Facebook ,“Indian film Adipurush had a dialogue claiming Janaki was India’s 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, non-governmental sector and Nepali citizen to protect the national interest by keeping Nepal’s freedom, independence and self-respect intact,” the Kathmandu mayor penned in the Facebook post.

The T-Series wrote to the Nepali Mayor shortly after the news of the screening ban in the nation"s capital, asserting that it was 'never intentional or deliberate to cause any disharmony for anyone.' While defending the contentious dialogue, the business added that it did so in an effort to honour women by quoting the precise passage that the Nepali mayor took issue with.Mayor Shah, in his earlier correspondence, requested the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to halt the screening of Indian films in Nepal until the objectionable dialogue was removed. He urged the government to take diplomatic initiatives with India to address the issue and protect Nepal’s cultural integrity.The ban on screening Indian films in Kathmandu and Pokhara signifies the local authorities’ commitment to safeguarding Nepal’s national interest and cultural values. It remains to be seen how the situation will evolve and whether the concerns raised will be addressed by the filmmakers to pave the way for the resumption of Indian film screenings in these cities.