‘The Kerala Story’ ban: “The theatre owners had voluntarily stopped screening the film,” Tamil Nadu Govt tells Supreme Court in a counter affidavit

On May 15, 2023, the state of Tamil Nadu informed the Supreme Court through a counter affidavit stating that the makers of the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’ have made false statements regarding the ban on the movie by the Tamil Nadu government. According to the filed counter affidavit, the film was released in Hindi in 19 multiplexes in Tamil Nadu on its release date, May 5, 2023. It also highlighted that initially there was no order to ban the screening of the film in the state. Moreover, essential safety precautions were taken by the State to safeguard the freedom of speech and expression. The affidavit submitted that “The state intelligence issued alerts to the superintendents of police in districts and commissioners of police in the cities for keeping a close vigil on the law and order situation in the state, and ensuring maintenance of the same in the wake of the scheduled release of the film.” Also, the state mentioned that “Over 965 police personnel including 25 DSPs were posted for the protection of the 21 movie theatres which had screened the film.” The state of Tamil Nadu further stated that “The theatre owners had voluntarily stopped screening the film on May 7 onwards due to poor performance of actors/ poor response to the movie or lack of well-known actors in the movie.” Adding that the government had nothing to do with the ban of the film in the theatres. Earlier on May 12, the Supreme Court bench listed the plea of the filmmaker against the decision of banning the movie by the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments on May 17, 2023. Therefore, the top Court will hear the matter on May 17, Wednesday.