‘The Kerala Story’s box office success is also a true story just like the makers claim of 32, 000 Kerala women being recruited by ISIS?
‘The Kerala Story’ released on 5 May and within just eight days the film surpassed Rs. 93 crore and has turned out to be a biggest surprise hit of 2023. Despite getting panned by critics and many claiming it to be a complete propaganda film, the film still surprised everyone and earned in double digits even on weekdays.
The film’s success story is following the same path of last year’s biggest surprise hit ‘The Kashmir Files’, with only one exception- its reception from the neutral film critics.
Although ‘The Kashmir Files’ was also criticized for being a propaganda film, which it was. But no true movie fan can disagree that it was a well-made film that not only tugged at your heartstrings, but the 170 minute-long dark, frightening, yet compelling narrative kept you riveted to your seats until the very end.
And this is why, even if you disagree with the filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s political views or the film, you don’t have any doubts when the film’s box office collection report is announced. ‘The Kerala Story’, on the other hand, is not one of them.
Not only has the film been lambasted by reviewers, but we’ve also noticed that a specific political party is organizing free screenings of ‘The Kerala Story’ for college students and women across India. There have also been allegations from various states that the film’s screenings were cancelled due to a lack of attendance. Many netizens have also showed proofs of political party organizing free screenings for people.
Amid the row over ‘The Kerala Story’, Uttar Pradesh BJP secretary Abhijat Mishra held a free screening of the movie in Lucknow for college girls.#TheKeralaStory | @ashishaajtak https://t.co/q0wiO1eNfN
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) May 6, 2023
According to media sources, ‘The Kerala Story’ is doing well in metro cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad, but reception from other metro cities and even tier 2 cities has been on the lower side during the weekdays. As a result, the abrupt increase in box office collection, especially on weekdays, raises eyebrows.
So the simple question is, if the film’s free screenings are being organized all over India and sponsored by a specific political party, and there are reports of the film having quite low attendance from audience in tier 2 cities, how can we say with confidence that the majority of the film’s box office collection is coming from general cinegoers and not from these sponsored shows that are being organized all over India?
Helmed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idhani . It’s about the forcible conversion of non-Muslim females in Kerala. The film was accused of “falsely claiming” that 32,000 women were radicalized and sent on terror missions. The makers then reduced the number to only 3.
