Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah on Friday wrote to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology requesting the latter to stop screening of Indian movies in Nepal unless an objectionable dialogue from a recently-released movie is omitted.

In the letter also forwarded to the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Film Development Board, Mayor Shah has urged the government to take diplomatic initiatives with India to remove the dialogue.

The Hindi movie Adipurush released on Friday contains a dialogue that states ‘Janaki is a daughter of India’. The dialogue, however, has been removed in Nepal.

Mentioning that Article 5 and Article 56 (6) of the Constitution have assigned the responsibility to federal, provincial and local governments for the protection of national interest, Shah has said the metropolis was concerned due to cultural encroachment by the movie.

The screening of the movie without omission of the dialogue will cause irreparable damage to Nepal’s national and cultural unity, according to Shah.

Mayor Shah on Thursday had warned that no Hindi films will be allowed to run in Kathmandu Metropolitan City until the controversial wording is removed not just in Nepal but also in India.

The morning shows of the movie were not screened in some of the theatres in Kathmandu over security concerns.