A breakaway faction of the ruling Communist Party in Nepal has called for a boycott of Indian films and banned cinema owners from screening them.

They claim Bollywood films have negative impacts on Nepali culture and economy.

The popular films, they claim, show negative depictions of Nepali people and keep locals from patronising locally created cinema.

Locals, however, see the move as politically motivated and meant to target what some officials see as the intrusion of New Delhi's soft-power into Nepal.

Al Jazeera’s Subina Shrestha reports from Kathmandu.