On June 19, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (MoI&B) Anurag Thakur reacted to the controversy surrounding the ‘Adipurush’ movie and its dialogues, assuring people that he would not allow their religious sentiments to be hurt. While the makers claim that the movie is based on the epic Ramayana, they are facing a huge backlash concerning the depictions, its visual effects and its cringe-worthy dialogues, causing hurt to religious sentiments.
The movie shows Ravan with a long beard and eyes filled with kajal while Meghnath is covered in tattoos. Hanuman Ji fashions a beard without a moustache and greets Mata Sita in an American style, while Bhagwan Ram is dressed in white attire.
While speaking about the controversy, Anurag Thakur said that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which is under the purview of MoI&B, has taken note of the violence being done around the movie. He also said that the makers have decided to change the controversial dialogues and that he will not allow the religious sentiments to be hurt under his watch; thus, he will oversee the changes in the dialogues.
Notably, Manoj Muntashir, who wrote Adipurush’s dialogues, has announced over Twitter that the controversial dialogues in the movie will be revised within the week. In his statement, he said that he wrote more than 4000 lines for the movie, and sentiments were hurt over mere five lines. He expressed anguish over the ‘indecent’ tweets against him and his mother following the movie’s release. He said that it is possible that in the three-hour movie, he wrote 3 minute worth of lines which were different from the mass imagination.
He said that the praise of Bhagwan Ram in the movie was also born from his pen. He also reminded people that he wrote the much-acclaimed songs – ‘Teri Mitti’ and ‘Desh Mere.’ He said that he has no complaints against those who used ‘indecent’ words against him, claiming that if ‘we stand each other, then Sanatan Dharma will lose’ and ‘We have created Adipurush for Sanatan Seva.’
Muntashir concluded that while he could give countless arguments in favour of his dialogues, it would not ease the pain, acknowledging the hurt caused to the audience’s religious sentiments. He announced that the makers of the movie have decided to revise the dialogues which are causing hurt to the audience and that the same will be added to the movie this week.
Nepal Bans Adipurush
The movie has courted controversy since the release of its teaser and is now facing a huge boycott for playing with the emotions of Hindus. However, the backlash against Adipurush is not limited to India. Notably, the movie has been banned in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and Pokhara, and that this ban would continue for all Bollywood movies to be released in future.
The first being neighbouring country Nepal where the capital city Kathmandu and Pokhara calls for a ban on the film, ‘Adipurush’. This ban will extend to all the Bollywood films to be released in future. These two cities of Nepal from now onwards will not have any screenings of Indian Bollywood films.
The Mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra Shah, on June 18 ordered all cinema halls in the Nepalese capital to stop screening of all Bollywood films. The order came three days after Shah gave an ultimatum to the Indian makers of the film Adipurush urging them to delete a portion where a dialogue refers to Sita as the “daughter of India”.
“No Hindi film will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City until the dialogue “Janaki (Sita) is India’s daughter” in “Adipurush” is removed,” said Shah. Police have also been deployed to ensure that no Indian films are screened at the cinemas in the Kathmandu metropolitan area of Nepal.
“All the cinema halls in Kathmandu will stop showing Indian films from June 19 as per the instructions issued by the KMC,” said Nabin Manandhar, spokesperson of the Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC).
“We have already talked to the cinema hall owners in Kathmandu for cooperation and they have agreed to voluntarily halt screening Hindi movies within Kathmandu Metropolis from Monday (June 19),” he said.
Notably, Pokhara Mayor made a similar announcement on June 18 and ordered cinema halls in the city to halt the screening of all Bollywood films from June 19. Mayor Dhanraj Acharya sent letters to three movie theatres telling them to stop screening Indian films, reported ANI.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Kathmandu Mayor Shah said he would be banning the screening of all Indian films by deploying the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police. “Indian film Adipurush features a dialogue claiming Janaki was India’s daughter which is incorrect. To correct it, we had given three days’ ultimatum. It is the first duty of every government and non-government agency, and Nepali citizens to protect the national interest of the country,”
“If the film is shown as is, Nepal’s nationality and cultural identity is damaged. The film has attracted serious attention due to its cultural encroachment,” the mayor wrote. He said it would cause “irreparable damage to our nationality, cultural unity” and deal a “blow to our national heroes.” Shah seems committed to halting the screening of all Hindi films currently being shown in all 17 cinema halls within the capital city.
“If the movie is allowed to be telecast in other areas and abroad, by prohibiting the performance of anti-national films within the Kathmandu Metropolitan area, then it is prohibited to perform any Indian movie in Kathmandu Metropolitan from tomorrow until objectionable portions are removed from the movie.,” he said.
“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,” reads the letter signed by Radhika Das from T-Series. However, the Nepal Mayor has also claimed that no Indian movie would be allowed to be screened in the country unless changes are made to the dialogues not only in his country but also India.
