On Thursday, 4th May 2023, a Public Interest Litigation raising an objection to the theatrical release of the multilingual film ‘The Kerala Story’ was rejected by the Madras High Court. After noting that the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court had previously addressed the matter of the release of the movie, the vacation bench of Justices AD Jagadish Chandira and C Saravanan rejected the PIL filed by a Chennai-based journalist BR Aravindakshan.
The petition filed by the journalist contended that the movie will affect the country’s sovereignty and unity causing disturbance to the public order. He said that the movie made a deliberate attempt to depict Kerala as a state that supports terrorism. He further argued that if the film is permitted to be exhibited, it will be embarrassing for the whole nation since it will give the image that India is a nation that breeds terrorists. The petitioners were questioned by the court over how they could predict that a film would cause issues with law and order without actually seeing the film.
Justice Chandira said, “Why are you coming so late? If you’d come earlier, we could’ve asked someone to watch the movie and decide. You have not seen the movie yet. How can you assume that there will be problems? We’re dismissing this case. The Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court have already dealt with the issue.”
The petitioner’s supporters questioned the movie’s certification. According to the argument, the film was not suitable for certification under Section 5(b) of the Cinematography Act, which prohibits approval if any aspect of the film is determined to be in violation of the State’s sovereignty, security, or integrity. The petitioner alleged that the film’s creators had misrepresented the truth when they said that 32,000 women had joined the terrorist outfit ISIS. Additionally, it was claimed that not even the Home Ministry had any information on such a large number of people joining the terrorist organisation.
When questioned if the film was based on any statistical information or records, the complainant said that the maker of the film had given interviews mentioning that the statistics were based on an address delivered by a previous Chief Minister of Kerala. The appellant said that the movie was premised on events that were occurring in Kerala since the producers claimed to be discovering certain facts.
In his appearance on behalf of the director, senior attorney Santosh Parasaran argued that the petition could not be maintained. He said that the Kerala High Court had previously approved the film’s release and that the Supreme Court had denied relief in a similar petition requesting the ban on the film.
The much-awaited trailer of Sudipto Sen’s film ‘The Kerala Story’ was released on 26th April 2023. Vipul Amrutlal Shah is the producer and creative director of the film starring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani in the lead roles. The film will be released on 5th May 2023 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam language.
