Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
The much anticipated Prabhas-starrer Adipurush, which retells the Ramayana, has been facing several controversies in India and abroad. Now, the film has led to a complete ban on Hindi films in two cities of Nepal.
On Sunday, Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah announced a ban on screening of all Hindi films in the city. Police was deployed to all 17 theatres in case someone tries to screen any Hindi film. The Mayor of Pokhara also followed his Kathmandu counterpart and announced a ban on all Hindi films amid backlash against Adipurush.
The government and people of Nepal are angry with a dialogue in the Om Raut directorial which says, “Janaki is a daughter of India.” The reason behind the backlash is that Hindus in Nepal (80% of the country’s population) believe that Sita (also known as Jaanki) was born in Janakpur, which was a part of the Mithila Kingdom under King Janak. Janaki has been portrayed by Kriti Sanon in Adipurush
When the issue was first mentioned at the time of release, the makers of Adipurush decided to remove the dialogue for the Nepal screenings. Now, the Mayor of Kathmandu Balen Shah had demanded that the dialogue be removed for the Indian audience also.
In the Nallasopara area of Mumbai, a Hindutva-group called ‘Rashtra Pratham’ barged into a theatre at a local mall on Sunday to stop the screening of Adipurush. They raised ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans and called for a boycott of the film
Hindu Sena has filed a writ petition against Prabhas-starrer Adipurush in the Delhi High Court. President of Hindu Sena, Vishnu Gupta asked the court for ‘removal of objectionable scenes and dialogues that depict religious characters in bad taste’.
Ever since its release, Adipurush has been heavily criticised for its use of street-style dialogues. People have also pointed out the poor VFX used in the film. The film was criticised for the VFX earlier also, which led to a significant delay in the release. The team recently announced their decision of revising some of the dialogues.
Even though the film is minting money, Adipurush’s director has been receiving death threats from various parts of the country. Kshatriya Karni Sena has issued a death threat to Om Raut. The dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla has also received numerous threats and has demanded police protection.
Reacting to the controversy surrounding dialogues in Adipurush, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, "CBFC has taken a decision on this. The film's director and dialogue writer have spoken about changing the dialogues. No one has the right to hurt anyone's sentiments.”
Adipurush, starring Prabhas and Kriti Sanon, has minted Rs 340 crore worldwide in its opening weekend despite the negative reviews and controversies.