Shows are getting cancelled for want of viewers even as many on social media questioned PM Modi's comment promoting the movie.
Image from the teaser of Kerala Love Story.
The oracle has had enough. He danced before the goddess, spat on her face, and struck his forehead with the sacred sword until he dropped dead.
It was a scene from the 1973 Malayalam movie, Nirmalyam, which fetched PJ Antony, a Christian, who portrayed the velichappadu — or oracle — the national award for the Best Actor.
When a Division Bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas heard pleas seeking a ban on The Kerala Story, it used Nirmalyam as an example to note that “Kerala is secular”.
It said that, as the Central Board of Film Certification had examined The Kerala Story and found it suitable for exhibition, the court found no reason to ban it.
“There are umpteen films showing Hindu priests as smugglers, rapists… nothing happened in the country. In Kerala we are secular,” said the court, mentioning Nirmalyam.
To the right wing’s chagrin, yet again nothing much “happened” when the “propaganda” movie released across the state on Friday, 5 May. It did not have many takers in Kerala, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself endorsing it during a campaign rally in poll-bound Karnataka.
The producers themselves told the High Court of Kerala that they would pull down the false narrative in their promos, peddled on social media.
The law and order situation was peaceful in Muslim-dominated Malappuram district in Kerala when the film, The Kerala Story, was screened, contrary to what Modi had projected in neighbouring Karnataka.
At the Mahalakshmi Theatre In Ashtamichira in Thrissur’s Mala, only seven people turned up to view the movie, forcing the exhibitor to cancel the show. It did not go well with BJP-RSS workers, who took out a protest march to the theatre, demanding the evening show.
The exhibitor relented only after the protesters bought tickets for the show.
The scene was the same elsewhere in Kerala. The film opened to a cold response. Hardly 22 theatres in Kerala screened “the story” on Friday.
The Sangh Parivar made an attempt to describe the cold-shouldering as a result of a threat from Islamic organisations. The audience thought otherwise. They had seen the teasers, which lied that more than 32,000 young Malayali women were brainwashed into embracing Islam and taken to IS strongholds.
Film critics said such propaganda films hardly find any takers in Kerala as most people prefer comedy, crime and family stories devoid of elements promoting communal and casteist themes.
At Thiruvananthapuram’s Aries Plus, two shows were held with the “houseful” board hanging on its gate. The board went missing after the two shows.
Theatre staff later explained that the two shows were organised by Thapasya, the cultural wing of BJP in Kerala, for its members and some of the fellow travellers of the Sangh Parivar.
RSS pracharak S Sethumadhavan, BJP state secretary P Sudheer and noted film producer G Suresh Kumar were among those who viewed the film. The screening was free. Thapasya met the expenses.
Arctech Cinemas at Pattoor, the second theatre in the capital city where the film was screened, 47 people turned up to watch the film on the first day, and theatre staff said the overall feeling was the film was evoking a tepid response.
Sudheer told South First that the film carried a message against terrorism and has not insulted or targeted any particular community.
He said the state government must take the initiative to screen it across the state to mould public opinion against terrorism.
He also urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Opposition leader VD Satheesan, and activists of the Muslim Youth League to watch the film before raising objections against it.
The Muslim Youth League had offered a bounty of ₹1 crore to anyone who could provide evidence that more than 32,000 Malayali women were forced to join the IS, as the film claimed. No one took up the challenge.
In Kottayam, two theatres screened the film amidst tight police security. There were no screenings in several areas, including districts like Wayanad, Kasaragod, Kannur, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta.
In Ernakulam and Kozhikode, activists of the Nationalist Youth Congress and Fraternity Movement organised protest marches to the screening venues. There was tight police security, and the viewers dismissed the movie.
“By the time we are halfway through The Kerala Story, it is hard to decide who is more brainwashed – the protagonist or the makers of this insidious film…The writing is consistently cringeworthy…The script..an act of cinematic terror.” https://t.co/bGLE2nLyqm
— Manu S Pillai (@UnamPillai) May 5, 2023
In Ernakulam, only Shenoy’s Cinema screened the film.
No screening was held at Cinepolis and Darshana theatres in Piravom town near Ernakulam for want of viewers despite earlier announcements.
When contacted, the film’s Kerala distributor Mukesh Mehta of E4 Entertainments, refused to comment on the box-office collection on the release day.
He claimed that he had no right to comment on it as it was under the producer’s rights.
While many distributors, including Liberty Basheer, cited the theatre owners’ apprehension over possible rampages by protestors as the reason for not screening the film, they were tightlipped about the poor response to the film.
“Why should we spend our hard-earned money on a propaganda film with content already available in the public domain,” asked NV Mohammad Rafi, a film critic and an assistant professor at Malayalam University.
“See the contradiction. Even the self-proclaimed defenders of the film from the BJP-RSS ranks failed to watch the movie in theatres. They are not taking their families to theatres,” he further said.
“Kerala has a long history of rejecting such propaganda films with very few elements of cinematic brilliance,” Rafi added.
He felt that only a political decision by the BJP to bring its cadres to theatres in the coming days can help the film win financial returns from Kerala.
According to film critic OK Johnny, the negative reviews earned by the film nationwide on the release date keep Kerala viewers away from theatres. Kerala has an emerging trend of watching films at theatres after going through popular reviews.
KP Praveen Kumar, who watched the film on the first day in Kozhikode, told South First that the film was a huge disappointment. He concurred with the negative reviews.
Though political leaders in Kerala ignored the comments of Modi on the film and the protests against it in the state, social media remained abuzz with mounting criticism against the movie and its “regressive agenda”.
Many wondered how the prime minister commented on the film, apparently without watching it.
Several social media users quoted the Kerala High Court’s observation that no such film can vitiate the social solidarity and communal amity prevailing in Kerala. Like Nirmalyam didn’t.
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