Tamil Nadu multiplex owners halt screenings of The Kerala Story; protests, no audience turnout led to decision

He told 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.”

The decision comes in the wake of protests led by the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) demanding to halt The Kerala Story’s screenings in the state, from May 7 onwards.

A News Minute report quoted a film tracker on the condition of anonymity, who claimed, “The state government doesn’t want to ban the movie, but they don’t want it to run either. Multiplexes have informally understood this and are citing law and order situations as a reason for their decision.” A Madurai theatre manager alleged that the police had advised against screening the film and was quoted as saying, “The police have asked us to be cautious if we decide to continue the shows, because of the opposition to the screenings.”

Starring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani, The Kerala Story was earlier officially described as the story of more than 32,000 Kerala women who’d allegedly been radicalised by Islamic fundamentalists. However, the number was changed to three after protests began online against the misinformation being spread by the film.

The Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta gave the film a one-star in her review. A part of it read, “After two hours plus of being battered by a barrage of bad-Muslims-who-are-completing-the-job-Aurangzeb-left-hanging (not kidding, this is an actual line in the film), and listening to jibes at ‘Communists’, you wonder why those who want to create effective propaganda have not learned the tricks of the trade from the master, Leni Riefenstahl?

“At least then we would have been something to look at. When a film shines a light on different aspects of an issue, it creates space for reflection and conversation, and you come away with food for thought. What about a film which does exactly the opposite? As a viewer you get to decide what you want from your film.”