Adipurush: Man thrashed for sitting in seat booked for Lord Hanuman

A seat bedecked with flowers and a picture of Lord Hanuman, another wrapped in saffron with a garland framing a photograph of the god and the words Jai Shri Ram in Hindi.

That is how it was in many theatres across the country as crowds streamed in to watch Adipurush, a retelling of the Ramayana.

Some were seen offering prayers, others pausing for a moment and there were, of course, those clicking mandatory selfies of the unusual sight before they settled down to watch the film.

There were also incense sticks and coconuts seen in videos from some cinema halls.

In one incident at a Hyderabad theatre, an audience member was beaten up for sitting in the seat reserved for Hanuman.

The video of the incident is also circulating on social media platforms.

Also in Hyderabad, fans of actor Prabhas, who plays Lord Ram in Adipurush, beat up a moviegoer outside a theatre for criticising the movie.

In an unverified video going viral on social media, a man can be seen being thrashed by a group of people after he pointed out flaws in Om Raut's direction and Prabhas' performance as Raghav in the movie, which released on Friday.

"Prabhas did not suit in the (Ram) get up. He was like a king and there was royalty in the Baahubali movie. He was taken for this (Ram) role by seeing his performance. Om Raut failed to show Prabhas properly," the viewer said, adding that he didn't like the film much apart from a few scenes featuring Hanuman and the background score.

His comments led to a heated argument between him and other fans of the Telugu star. It soon turned into a physical altercation.

The multilingual 3-D spectacle, which released on Friday amid much fanfare, is directed by Om Raut and stars Prabhas as Raghav, Kriti Sanon as Janaki and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh.

A video showed a fan dressed as Hanuman greeting movie-goers outside a theatre.

At a promotional event in Tirupati ahead of the film's release, director Raut requested the producers T Series to reserve one seat in every screening of Adipurush as a mark of respect for Lord Hanuman.

"Everywhere in the world, wherever there is an Adipurush show, I request the producer and distributor to keep one seat for Hanuman ji; he will come to see Ramayan," Raut said.

Theatres in Kathmandu halt Adipurush screening

Meanwhile, screening of Adipurush has been put on hold in cinema halls across Kathmandu after City Mayor Balendra Shah asked the makers to rectify the mistake about the birthplace of Sita.

'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 (sic),' Mayor Shah wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

Nepal's film certification board also said that the permission to screen the film in theatres will be granted only after changing the dialogue that describes 'Sita as India's daughter'.

According to mythological books, Sita is believed to have been born in Janakpur, which is located in Nepal.

In his Facebook post, Shah asked the makers to change the dialogue within three days.