The Tamil Nadu Multiplex Association on Sunday announced that it will stop the screening of The Kerala Story in the state, citing potential law and order problems, PTI reported.
The film, directed by Sudipto Sen, hit the screens on May 5. It claims to depict how women from Kerala were converted to Islam and recruited by Islamic State terrorist group. The filmmakers initially claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had joined the Islamic State, but when asked for evidence, they altered the trailer to state the movie was a “compilation of the true stories of three young girls”.
The trailer had sparked outrage and petitions seeking a stay on the release of the film had reached both the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court. However, both the courts had refused to order a stay.
On Sunday, the president of Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, M Subramaniam, told 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,” Subramaniam added. “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 film was pulled out a day after the Naam Tamilar Katchi party held protests in Chennai, Coimbatore, Vellore and Puducherry against the screening of The Kerala Story.
“NTK members across Tamil Nadu will start purchasing tickets, enter the theatre and protest inside if the movie continues to be screened,” party leader Seeman had told The News Minute.
He added that the film was made to disparage Muslims and portray them as terrorists.
But on Sunday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that those who are opposing The Kerala Story are supporters of the Islamic State and the banned Popular Front of India, reported PTI.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader claimed that the movie exposed how Hindu and Christian girls from the state were pressurised to join terror groups.
Thakur’s remarks came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 5 said that the movie exposed terror conspiracies in the southern state and accused the Congress of having a covert political understanding with people holding “terrorist mindsets”.
Following Modi’s comments, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh announced tax break for the film. “We have already made a law against religious conversion in Madhya Pradesh,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had told PTI. “Since this film creates awareness, everyone should watch this film. Parents, children and daughters should watch it.”
Also read: ‘The Kerala Story’ review: All about Islamophobia
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