Tamil Nadu multiplex owners have decided to halt the screenings of the controversial movie The Kerala Story from May 7, 2023, citing potential law and order issues and lack of reception from the general public as reasons for the move. The film, which was released on May 5, 2023, has been facing protests and stinging reviews. Though film is doing really well in north India and has collected very good 35 cr nett over weekend, beating weekend of similar sort of film The Kashmir Files.
President of Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, M Subramaniam confirmed the news that some multiplexes that had shown the film had decided to withdraw it. He told PTI, “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.”
Politics Behind Halting Screening Of The Kerala Story
The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) in Tamil Nadu staged a protest against the release of the movie in Chennai. The multiplex owners say that screening the film affects other films in multiplexes, and due to law and order concerns, other films shown in multiplexes that screen this movie suffer, affecting their income. The Tamil Nadu government has not banned the film. The Kerala Story is largely distributed by Red Giant Movies, which has close links with the ruling DMK.
A News Minute report quoted a film tracker on the condition of anonymity, who claimed, “The state government doesn’t want to ban the movie, but they don’t want it to run either. Multiplexes have informally understood this and are citing law and order situations as a reason for their decision.” A Madurai theatre manager alleged that the police had advised against screening the film and was quoted as saying, “The police have asked us to be cautious if we decide to continue the shows, because of the opposition to the screenings.”
The film is still being screened in Kerala, with 22 screens across the state showing the movie. The controversy surrounding the film has led to screening stoppages in Tamil Nadu by multiplex owners due to the law and order situation and poor response.
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