Adipurush Makers Apologise To Kathmandu Mayor Over Sita Dialogue, Request Him To Revoke Ban

The makers of Prabhas and Kriti Sanon starrer Adipurush have issued an apology to the mayor of Kathmandu. In the apology, the makers requested the ban on Hindi films to be lifted in Nepal’s capital and shared that the mistake that Sita was the ‘daughter of India’ has been corrected.

“At the outset we would like to apologize if we have hurt the sentiments of the people of Nepal in any way… It was never intentional or deliberate to cause disharm for anyone,” the letter sent on behalf of T-Series stated. It further mentioned that “as Indians, the respect of women all over the world is of the utmost important to us”.

“We request you to view the film in its artistic form and support the intention of reaching out to the large audiences to create interest in our history,” the letter added.

This comes a day after Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah banned all Indian movies in the city and deployed police forces in the capital to ensure no theatre screens any film made in India. The mayor expressed disappointment with ‘Janaki is a daughter of India’ dialogue in Adipurush and claimed that Sita was rather born in Nepal.

In his Facebook statement, the Kathmandu mayor claimed ‘cultural encroachment’ on Nepal via Adipurush and wrote, “If the film is shown as it is, it seems that Nepal’s nationality, cultural unity, and national identity will be severely damaged and irreparable damage will be done. Due to cultural encroachment on Nepal from that movie, this metropolitan city has attracted serious attention. By prohibiting the showing of the said film against the national interest within the Kathmandu metropolitan area, if the film is allowed to be shown in other areas of the country and abroad, it will establish a misleading fact, so it is prohibited to show any Indian film in the Kathmandu metropolitan city until the objectionable parts are removed from the said film.”

Directed by Om Raut, Adipurush is an adaptation of the Indian epic Ramayan. With Prabhas playing Raghav, Kriti essaying Janaki’s role, and Saif of Lankesh, the film also features Sunny Singh as Shesh and Devdatta Nage as Bajrang.