Kathmandu mayor threatens to ban Hindi films because of claim about Sita in ‘Adipurush’

Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah on Thursday threatened to ban Hindi films in the city unless the makers of Adipurush removed a line from the movie that refers to Sita as the “daughter of India”, PTI reported.

The film is based on the Hindu epic Ramayana. There are conflicting claims about the birthplace of Sita, with some versions saying that the goddess was born in Sitamarhi in present-day India, and others saying that she was born in Janakpur in present-day Nepal.

On Thursday, Shah gave the makers of Adipurush a three-day deadline to remove the line from the movie. “Until the line ‘Janaki is a daughter of India’ contained in the South Indian film ‘Adipurush’ is removed not just in Nepal but also in India, no Hindi films will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City,” the mayor wrote on Facebook.

Adipurush is slated to be released on Friday. The movie is directed by Om Raut and stars actors Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon.

The Kathmandu mayor’s criticism of the film comes weeks after political leaders in Nepal had objected to a mural interpreted as “Akhand Bharat” or unified India, which is installed in the new Parliament complex in Delhi.

Nepali politicians had expressed objections to the mural as it showed Lumbini – the birthplace of the founder of Buddhism Gautama Buddha – as part of India. Nepal considers Lumbini as one of the major cultural centres on its map.

Subsequently, Balendra Shah installed a map of “Greater Nepal” in his office in an apparent counter to the mural.

Supporters of “Greater Nepal” believe that the Nepalese territory spread from Teesta river in the eastern Himalayas to Sutlej river in the west. However, both the territories now fall under India after Nepal signed the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816 that led to the demarcation of the international boundary between the two countries.