Sudipto Sen’s ‘The Kerala Story’ remained controversial even before its release. The movie, released on May 5, is no longer running in theatres in Tamil Nadu. Produced by Viper Amrutlal Shah, it has triggered a massive political row, with many calling it a propaganda film.
The movie stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles. The trailer came under fire as it previously claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group ISIS. The Kerala High Court noted last week that the producers had published a disclaimer along with the movie, which specifically says that the film has fictionalised and is a dramatised version of events and doesn't claim accuracy or factuality of historical events.
President of Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, M Subramaniam, confirmed that the few multiplexes showing the film had decided to withdraw it. He said, “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.”
Film trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai, who had earlier said that he was planning to watch the film, tweeted, "#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 Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) in Tamil Nadu, headed by actor and director Seeman, had staged a protest against releasing The Kerala Story in Chennai. Seeman said that they will break the screens and theatres if the film is screened in cinemas despite the protests.