The Kerala Story: A tale of protests, cancellations and a tax-free film

A day after its theatrical release, the Adah Sharma-starrer The Kerala Story, which has become a subject of so many controversies, was declared tax-free in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.

“The Kerala Story exposes the conspiracy of love Jihad, religious conversion and terrorism and brings out its hideous face. The film tells how the daughters get entangled in the trap of love jihad in momentary sentimentality and how they are ruined. The film also exposes the design of terrorism. This film makes us aware,” the Chief Minister said in a video posted on his official Twitter handle.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor on Sunday wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanding to make the movie tax-free in the national capital.

Kapoor in a letter to CM Kejriwal said, "Last night I saw the newly released movie 'The Kerala Story' which left an indelible impression. The movie made me aware of serious issues going on here in Kerala. The movie exposes the conspiracy of love jihad, religious conversion and terrorism in the state."

However, there are several states that have stopped full-fledged screenings of the movie. The screening was cancelled at PVR Cinemas in Oberoi Mall in Kochi, as per a report in Times Now. Tamil Nadu has also stopped the screening of the controversial film, citing poor response and threats.

President of Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, M Subramaniam, popularly known as Tiruppur Subramaniam, confirmed 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," added Subramaniam.

Meanwhile in Kerala, according to the distributors, E4 Entertainment, 22 screens across the State are screening the films.

Even Coimbatore had to cancel a few shows due to rising tension between communities.

'The Kerala Story' starring Adah Sharma was released in cinemas on Friday and is portrayed as ''unearthing'' the events behind ''approximately 32,000 women'' allegedly going missing from Kerala.

The film saw a decent collection on the opening days as it earned Rs 8 crore and Rs 12 crore on the second day. The total collection so far is Rs 20 crore.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court on Friday refused to stay the release of the controversial multi-lingual film 'The Kerala Story' and said the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole.

A bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas noted the submission made by the producers that they do not intend to retain an ''offending teaser'' which contained a statement that ''32,000 women'' from Kerala were converted and joined a terrorist organisation.

Also Read: The Kerala Story: Tamil Nadu multiplexes stop screening of Sudipto Sen's film from today