West Bengal Government Bans The Kerala Story To 'Avoid Any Incident Of Hatred And Violence'

West Bengal government on Monday decided to ban the movie 'The Kerala Story' to 'maintain peace in the state.' The  film, starring Adah Sharma, was released in cinemas on Friday.

West Bengal government on Monday announced its decision to ban the movie 'The Kerala Story'

Source : Instagram/@adah_ki_adah

West Bengal government on Monday decided to ban the movie 'The Kerala Story' to 'maintain peace in the state.' The  film, starring Adah Sharma, was released in cinemas on Friday.

“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,” ANI quoted West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee 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: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2023

Mamata Banerjee also called the movie a 'distorted story.'

What is "The Kashmir Files"? it is to humiliate one section. What is "The Kerala Story"?... It is a distorted story: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/yRFwhlumum

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2023

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur criticised the West Bengal government’s decision and said that the opposition is ‘doing appeasement and vote bank politics.’ 

"Their (opposition) face is getting exposed, they're doing appeasement and vote bank politics. By banning the film (The Kerala Story), West Bengal is committing injustice. Recently, a girl was raped & murdered in Bengal...what are you ( Mamata Banerjee) getting by standing up for such terrorists,” he was quoted as saying by ANI. 

 

#WATCH | "Their (opposition) face is getting exposed, they're doing appeasement and vote bank politics. By banning the film (The Kerala Story), West Bengal is committing injustice. Recently only, a girl was raped & murdered in Bengal...what are you ( Mamata Banerjee) getting by… pic.twitter.com/D7ctBVXReJ

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2023

Reacting to his film #TheKeralaStory being banned in West Bengal, film's producer Vipul Shah says, "If that is what she has done, we will take legal action. Whatever is possible under the provisions of law, we will fight." 

 

#WATCH | Reacting on his film #TheKeralaStory being banned in West Bengal, film's producer Vipul Shah says, "If that is what she has done, we will take legal action. Whatever is possible under the provisions of law, we will fight." https://t.co/FY3Qz8cljK pic.twitter.com/LeY23flUOg

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2023

Earlier, theatres in Tamil Nadu stopped the screening of the film in the State from May 7 onwards. President of Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, M Subramaniam, popularly known as Tiruppur Subramaniam, confirmed the news to PTI that the few multiplexes that had shown the film had decided to withdraw it. 

"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," Subramaniam told PTI. 

BJP on Monday claimed that the ruling DMK has taken 'The Kerala Story' off the screens in Tamil Nadu in a systematic fashion and blamed the government for "abuse of power to hide the truth."  

Meanwhile, on its third day of release, Sudipto Sen's film earned Rs 16 crore at the domestic box office. Since its release on May 5, 'The Kerala Story' has so far made over Rs 30 crore. 

'The Kerala Story', starring Adah Sharma, was released in cinemas on Friday and was initially portrayed as "unearthing" the events behind "approximately 32,000 women" allegedly missing from Kerala. The filmmakers later changed the figure in the film's trailer. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on May 5 credited the movie, produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah's Sunshine Pictures, for bringing out terror conspiracies and used it to attack the Congress during an election rally in poll-bound Karnataka. 

Last week, the Kerala High Court also refused to stay the release of the film and said the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole. Recently, the Madhya Pradesh government announced that "The Kerala Story" will be tax free in the state, while Uttar Pradesh minister Brajesh Pathak said it will not oppose any proposal to grant similar status in the state. 

(With inputs from agencies)