8th May 2023, Mumbai: The controversy surrounding the film The Kerala Story has caused theatre owners in certain parts of South India to stop screening it due to backlash. The film has been accused of presenting false facts, leading to the controversy. The veteran actress Shabana Azmi has commented on the issue, drawing a comparison between the outrage over The Kerala Story and the calls for a boycott of the film Laal Singh Chaddha. Azmi has stated that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is the ultimate authority on the matter.
Shabana Azmi expressed her opinion on the ongoing controversy surrounding The Kerala Story via Twitter. According to theatre owners, the film’s release has affected the screening of other films, leading to the decision to remove it from their lists. Azmi drew a comparison between this situation and the boycott of Laal Singh Chaddha by certain audience members. She emphasized that once a film has been approved by the CBFC, no one should challenge its release.
Shabana Azmi has commented on the situation, emphasizing the CBFC’s authority and drawing a comparison to the controversy surrounding Laal Singh Chaddha. The film centers around a character who is manipulated into converting to Islam and is then forced to join the ISIS, but the number of women whose experiences were supposedly used as the basis for the film has been disputed.
The Kerala Story centers around the character played by Adah Sharma, a Malayali Hindu girl who is manipulated into converting to Islam and is later forcibly made to join the ISIS. Initially, the film claimed to be based on the experiences of 32,000 women in similar situations, but this was disputed, leading to a change in the number to 3 women. The film was released in India on May 5.