Adipurush: Morning shows cancelled in Kathmandu over security concerns

The morning shows of Adipurush have been cancelled in Kathmandu, Nepal as mayor Balendra Shah and people from the valley have demanded that a contentious line about the origin of Sita be removed from the film everywhere. (Also Read: Adipurush advance booking: Prabhas film promises box office ‘tsunami’ with over 4.7 lakh tickets sold already)

Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah on Thursday announced a ban of Hindi films from screening in Nepal’s capital until a portion of the dialogue is removed from Adipurush, a retelling of the epic Ramayana.

What was Nepal’s objection to Adipurush?

“Until the line ‘Janaki is a daughter of India’ contained in Adipurush is removed not just in Nepal but also in India, no Hindi films will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City,” Balendra wrote on his Facebook wall.

The Nepal Censor Board had also issued a directive to the makers, claiming that Adipurush will not release in the neighbouring country unless the makers remove that line. While the release has been cleared now, as per a report by News18, the morning shows have been cancelled over security concerns.

Adipurush cleared for Nepal release

As per a report in News18, the makers, UV Creations and Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series, have now removed the controversial line, allowing the Om Raut film to release in Nepal on Friday, the same time as India.

About Adipurush

An interpretation of the historic epic Ramayana, Adipurush is directed by Om Raut, who previously helmed Ajay Devgn-starrer Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior in 2020. The film stars Prabhas as Raghav, based on Rama, Kriti Sanon as Janaki, based on Sita, and Saif Ali Khan as Ravana.

About Adipurush’s release

Adipurush has turned out to be the widest release in India this year. It’s released in both 2D and 3D, and in five languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. The film received a tremendous response via advanced booking and is expected to open at huge numbers.

Delayed release

The first teaser of Adipurush was launched in Ayodhya, the birthland of Lord Ram, on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti last year. But the film received flak for its VFX back then. Earlier scheduled to release in January 2023, it was pushed to June in order to improve the VFX quality.