The Kerala Story, which was dogged by controversy even before it hit the big screen, is no longer playing in Tamil Nadu theatres. There are now no theatres in Tamil Nadu where you may book the film, despite the fact that it had a very limited distribution. The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, has sparked a significant political debate with many considering it a propaganda movie.
Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani play the main characters in The Kerala Story. The caravan drew criticism since it had previously stated that 32,000 state-born girls had vanished and eventually joined the terrorist organisation ISIS. The Kerala High Court had remarked on Friday that the filmmakers have released a disclaimer accompanying the video that expressly states that it has been completely fabricated and makes no claims as to the truth or factuality of historical events.
M Subramaniam, the president of the Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, acknowledged the decision to pull the film from the few multiplexes that had screened it. He said to PTI, “The film was only shown in a few multiplexes owned by pan-India groups, mostly PVR. Locally-owned multiplexes had already decided not to show the film, as it did not have any popular stars. In Coimbatore for instance, there were two shows so far — one on Friday and one on Saturday. Even those did not do well. Given that, theatres decided that it was not worth going through the threat of protests and such.”
Sreedhar Pillai, a cinema trade analyst, tweeted on Sunday after previously stating that he intended to see the movie on Sunday. “#Multiplexes stop screening of the controversial #TheKeralaStory from today (Sunday) all over #TamilNadu! They have cited “potential law and order issues and lack of reception from general public as reasons for the move!”
The Kerala Story’s release in Chennai was protested by the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), a group in Tamil Nadu led by actor and director Seeman. Yet, the movie’s first two days of box office receipts appeared respectable. The movie debuted on Friday at 8 crore and increased to 11.22 crore on Saturday, per data provided by cinema trade expert Taran Adarsh.
