On Monday (May 15), the Tamil Nadu government claimed before the Supreme Court of India that there is no ban on the screening of the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ in the State.
In its affidavit, the State alleged that theatre owners had chosen to not screen the film on their own accord due to ‘poor response’ to the film.
The Tamil Nadu government noted, “The theatre owners had voluntarily stopped screening the film on May 7th onwards due to poor performance of actors/ poor response to the movie or lack of well-known actors in the movie.”
#BREAKING State of Tamil Nadu tells #SupremeCourt that #TheKeralaStory film makers have lied that state has imposed a shadow ban on the movie
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) May 15, 2023
TN says movie released in 19 multiplexes but theatre owners shut out the movie due to poor performance of actors and poor response
It filed the reply before the apex court in response to a petition filed by the movie makers about the ‘shadow ban’ of ‘The Kerala Story’ in Tamil Nadu. The makers of the film have accused the Tamil Nadu government of issuing an alert in anticipation of protests against the movie.
According to them, the ‘alert’ led to theatres stopping the screening of ‘The Kerala Story.’ The Tamil Nadu government, however, dubbed the allegations as ‘false’ and claimed that the film was initially released in 19 multiplexes.
“Over 965 police personnel including 25 DSPs were posted for the protection of the 21 movie theatres which had screened the film,” it said in its affidavit. The government also said that the movie makers did not produce any document that could prove that the State stopped ‘The Kerala Story’ from being screened.
It claimed that the theatre owners stopped the screening of the movie despite the government providing them ample security.
The Kerala Story not to be screened in Tamil Nadu amidst protests
Opindia had earlier reported how multiplex theatres decided to drop ‘The Kerala Story’ citing the law and order situation. The development came after Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief Seeman and his supporters staged protests against the screening of the film in the Anna Nagar Arch near Skywalk Mall in Chennai.
The police apprehended NTK cadres following a protest inside a theatre, opposing the screening of The Kerala Story. Seeman had claimed that The Kerala Story was made to denigrate Muslims and portray Muslims as terrorists.
Earlier on May 4, 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 movie ‘The Kerala Story‘ revolves around the tragic reality of ISIS brides, with the lead actor Adah Sharma playing the role of one Shalini Unnikrishnan, who is brainwashed by her Muslim friends and gets converted to Islam. She later travels to ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) also known as IS (Islamic State) controlled area with her spouse.
