The controversy surrounding The Kerala Story, which has been both panned and largely ignored in the South is helping it do well at the box office in most other parts of the country.
The film, dubbed as “Sangh Parivar propaganda” by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, portrays Kerala as fertile ground for religious conversions and recruitment to the Islamic State.
It is estimated to have collected more than ₹35 crore at the box office till Sunday, 7 May, and several reports claim that the film might collect as high as ₹10 crore on Monday.
Mukesh R Mehta of E4 Entertainment, which distributed the film in Kerala, told South First that at present 31 screens were showing The Kerala Story with 80 percent occupancy.
“To top it all, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning the film during one of his campaign rallies in Karnataka has boosted its collection,” one distributor said.