A division bench of Kerala High Court on Friday revoked the 15-day interim stay imposed by a single-judge bench on the release of The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond, clearing the decks for its release in the evening.
A bench of Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and P.V. Balakrishnan passed the order on an appeal filed by the film’s producer, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, on Thursday night, hours after the movie’s release was stayed.
Hoping for a favourable outcome before midnight, the film’s makers had started selling online tickets through the BookmyShow platform.
The petitioners, who had challenged the censor certification to the film, were quick to point out contempt of court as the single-judge bench’s interim stay was still in effect. This prompted the film’s makers to refund people who purchased online tickets for Friday’s afternoon show in Bengal.
The high court, which had reserved its order on Thursday night, pronounced its verdict vacating the interim stay at 4pm on Friday.
Shah’s counsel claimed that the film did not harm or denigrate the state of Kerala or any religious community. He maintained that it was the storyteller’s prerogative to present a narrative addressing social evils.
Shah had also contended that if the film’s release was put on hold, it would “financially finish” the producers as the movie was set to be screened in 1,500 theatres in India and over 300 abroad on February 27.
On Thursday afternoon, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas had halted the film’s release for 15 days and questioned the Central Board of Film Certification’s U/A rating following the intervention of petitioners Sreedev Namboodiri, a biologist from Kannur, and Freddy V. Francis, a vlogger
from Ernakulam.
The judge had observed that, prima facie, there was a manifest non-application of mind to the requirement of law by the censor board.
The judge also said that “the possibility of communal disharmony or denigration of a community also being prima facie involved in the movie”, its release without scrutiny by the higher authorities would be legally improper.
The court had said that the contents of the film’s teaser had “a prima facie potential to distort public perception and disturb communal harmony”.
Namboodiri had alleged that the film’s trailer and teaser portrayed Kerala in a negative light.
Namboodiri also objected to the film’s title, arguing that it suggested that the events depicted in the film took place in Kerala even though the three main women characters hailed from Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The film depicts three young Hindu women who are lured into interfaith marriages, assaulted, stripped of their rights and forced to convert to Islam.