Cinemas in Tamil Nadu have halted the screenings of The Kerala Story from May 7, 2023.

Theatre owners have cited law and order issues and lack of public reception as reasons for the move.

This comes as the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) in Tamil Nadu staged a protest on May 6 against the film’s release in Chennai.

The Naam Tamilar Party cadres headed by its organiser, actor and director Seeman started protests in the Chennai Anna Nagar Arch near Skywalk Mall in Chennai.

Seeman said that if The Kerala Story is screened, protestors would storm theatres and break the screens.

Seeman also urged theatre owners not to screen the film and asked people not to watch it.

He claimed that if the movie is not banned, the NTK cadres would buy the tickets for the film and start protesting inside the theatre.

Two theatres in Kochi cancelled the film’s screening.

PVR Cinemas in Lulu Mall and Oberon Mall, and Cinepolis in Centre Square Mall had cancelled the screening. However, no reasons were given.

Seeman claimed that The Kerala Story was anti-Muslim.

The Kerala Story was released on May 5, 2023, and stars Adah Sharma.

It was portrayed as “unearthing” the events behind “approximately 32,000 women” allegedly going missing from Kerala.

According to the CPI(M) and the Congress in Kerala, the film falsely claims that 32,000 women were converted and radicalised by ISIS.

They were deployed in terror missions in India and across the world.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the filmmakers, saying they were taking up the Sangh Parivar propaganda of projecting the state as a centre of religious extremism by raising the issue of ‘love jihad’.

On the day of its release, screenings of The Kerala Story were cancelled in many districts of Kerala.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor accused the makers of indulging in “gross exaggeration” and “distortion” of the state’s reality.

However, the Kerala High Court stated that the film does not contain anything offensive to any particular community.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that tax-free status would be given to The Kerala Story.

It came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi credited the film for bringing out terror conspiracies and used it to attack the Congress during a rally in Karnataka.

Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film earned Rs. 20 Crore (£1.9 million) in the Indian market at the end of day two.

The Kerala Story also became one of the top five openers of 2023 in terms of its first-day box office collection.

According to trade experts, the collections of the film are bound to go up over time.

Watch The Kerala Story Trailer

Please enable JavaScript