The Kerala Story, which was dogged by controversy even before it hit the big screen, is no longer playing in Tamil Nadu theaters. The movie was only released in a small number of cinemas, but it is no longer being offered for booking in any Tamil Nadu theater. The Kerala Story, a film produced and directed by Vipul Amritlal Shah and Sudipto Sen, has drawn intense political criticism and been dubbed a propaganda piece by many.
Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani play the main characters in The Kerala Story. The trailer drew criticism when it first asserted that 32,000 state-born girls had vanished and eventually joined the terrorist organization ISIS. The Kerala High Court claimed on Friday that the film’s creators had included a disclaimer with it that expressly specifies that the story is fictional and dramatized; it makes no claims to historical authenticity or factuality.
The report that certain multiplexes that had showed the movie had opted to pull it has been confirmed by M Subramaniam, president of the Tamil Nadu Theater and Multiplex Owners Association. According to him, the movie was only shown in a few multiplexes run by pan-Indian companies, primarily PVR. Due to the lack of any well-known stars, locally owned multiplexes had previously opted not to screen the movie. For instance, Coimbatore has so far hosted two performances, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Even he performed poorly. Due to this, the cheaters concluded it was not worthwhile to continue with the protest and associated risk.
Sridhar Pillai, a film industry analyst, tweeted, “#Multiplexes halt playing the divisive #TheKeralaStory across Tamil Nadu from today (Sunday)! “, despite having previously stated that he intended to see the movie on Sunday. He highlighted the public backlash and “possible” law and order problems as justifications for the move.
On Sunday, Sridhar Pillai tweeted about The Kerala Story.
The Kerala Story’s release in Chennai was contested by Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), an organization in Tamil Nadu led by the actor and filmmaker Seeman. If the movie were to be screened in theaters in spite of the protests, Seeman vowed to destroy screens and theaters.
Yet, the movie’s first two days of box office receipts were respectable. Data provided by film industry expert Taran Adarsh shows that the movie’s opening weekend box office took in an additional 8.22 crores on Saturday.
(With input from PTI)
