The Kerala Story, a film by Sudipto Sen, has been outlawed, according to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Since the film's trailer premiered, criticism has been surrounding it. It was criticized for the trailer's earlier assertion that 32,000 females from Kerala vanished and later joined the terrorist organization ISIS.
Mamata Banerjee was quoted by the news agency ANI as saying, “West Bengal govt has decided to ban the movie The Kerala Story. This is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and to maintain peace in the state.”
And she added, “What is The Kashmir files? it is to humiliate one section. What is The Kerala story?... It is a distorted story.” Reacting to the decision, film producer Vipul Shah said, “If that is what she has done, we will take legal action. Whatever is possible under the provisions of law, we will fight.”
The Kerala Story was just removed from Tamil Nadu theatres. The decision was verified by M Subramaniam, president of the Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, who told news agency 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.”
Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani play the main characters in The Kerala Story. The movie produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah caused significant political controversy. It was even labelled a propaganda effort by many.
The Kerala High Court had earlier observed that the filmmakers had released a disclaimer with the film that explicitly stated that the story was fictionalized and dramatized. It was also mentioned that the movie makes no claims regarding historical reality or veracity.
Despite numerous requests for a ban on the movie, the HC declined to order its release to be on stay. On the third day after its release, the movie brought in Rs. 16 crores at the domestic box office.
