[BREAKING] Theatres not screening The Kerala Story due to poor performance/response, no ban on film: Tamil Nadu tells Supreme Court

In a petition filed by the makers of The Kerala Story against the alleged shadow ban on the movie in Tamil Nadu, the State told the Supreme Court on Monday that the film makers have falsely stated that the government has imposed a shadow ban on the movie. .In fact, the poor audience response to the movie led to its ouster from movie theatres, the State told the apex court in its counter affidavit. "The theatre owners had voluntarily stopped screening the film on May 7th onwards due to poor performance of actors/ poor response to the movie or lack of well-known actors in the movie," the affidavit said. The State filed its reply before the Supreme Court to the petition by the filmmakers alleging a de facto ban in Tamil Nadu over the movie. .The petition by the movie makers said that the State had issued an “alert” anticipating protests in connection with the release of the film due to which theatres in the State withdrew the film.The theatres withdrew the film because of the evidently informal messaging from State authorities to film exhibitors that the government does not support the running of the film, it was submitted. The State, however denied claims that it has imposed shadow ban on the movie in the State."These false statements have been made deliberately to seek the undue indulgence of this court under Article 32 petition," the reply said..The State highlighted that the movie was released across 19 multiplexes and the petitioners have not produced any document to show that the State stopped the screening of the film. .The State in fact deployed more police forces in every multiplex so that cinema goers can watch the movie without any law and order issues. "Over 965 police personnel including 25 DSPs were posted for the protection of the 21 movie theatres which had screened the film," the reply said..The State underlined that it is the cinema theatre owners who had themselves stopped screening of the film due to poor response to the movie and that the state of Tamil Nadu cannot do anything to increase viewership apart from giving security to the theatres screening the film..The Kerala Story is a Hindi film about a group of women from Kerala who join ISIS. The film was released on May 5.Even before its release, the film had invited criticism from several quarters. In Kerala, the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress party alleged that it is a propaganda movie promoting a fake narrative and an agenda of right wing organizations.The plea in Supreme Court besides challenging the alleged shadow ban in Tamil Nadu has also assailed the decision of the West Bengal government to ban screening of the movie in the State..The Kerala High Court had, on May 5, refused to stay the release of the film. A bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas, after watching the teaser and the trailer of the movie, determined that it did not contain anything against Islam or Muslims as a whole but was about terrorist organsiation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).Appeal against the same is pending before the top court. Notably, a slew of petitions were filed before various courts in the country against the movie.The Madras High Court on May 4 rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on the movie on the ground that the Kerala High Court was already hearing a similar challenge and that the petitioner had approached the Court at "the last hour".The Supreme Court also refused to interfere with the release of film or to pass any other orders earlier.