The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that the film The Kerala Story will be “tax-free” in the state. A government spokesperson also said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to watch the controversial movie at a special screening along with his Cabinet ministers.
This comes a day after West Bengal banned the film’s screening, citing law and order issues. On Sunday, the Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners’ Association withdrew the film from multiplexes, angering the BJP state unit.
In a tweet, Adityanath wrote, “The Kerala Story will be made tax-free in Uttar Pradesh.” UP become the second state after Madhya Pradesh to make the controversial film ‘tax-free’.
Sudipto Sen’s film is based on the theme that thousands of Hindu girls are forcefully converted from Kerala by ISIS agents to recruit them to Syria and Afghanistan. The trailer and the teaser of the film claimed 32,000 such cases, which is highly exaggerated by the official data provided by investigation agencies.
Kerala Story is considered part of the new trend in Indian films that endorsed the conspiracy theories of the Hindutva ecosystem. The Kashmir Files, a film on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits also faced similar pushback for inaccurate claims and vilified depiction of Muslims.
The film has received support from the Bharatiya Janata Party with Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoking it during his poll rally in Karnataka.
“The movie ‘The Kerala Story’ is trying to expose the consequences of terrorism in a society, especially in a state like Kerala which is beautiful land of hardworking, talented and intellectual people. The Congress party is now trying to ban the film and support the terror elements,” Modi said at a poll rally in Ballari last week.
Last week, the Kerala High Court rejected the demand to stay the screening of The Kerala Story and refused to declare the ‘A’ certification issued by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) illegal.
Supreme Court also refused to entertain a prayer to direct the Kerala High Court to hear a petition challenging the clearance granted by CBFC to the film.
