There is no doubt that the biggest controversy in Indian cinema right now is Sudipto Sen's recent film, The Kerala Story. There have been calls from many centres to ban the film, and many went to the courts for the same, and these cases were quashed too. However, in Tamil Nadu, the multiplexes have decided to stop the screening of Sudipto Sen's directorial noting the poor performance and law and order situation.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu, including Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), conducted a protest against the film's screening. In fact, party workers of NTK held a protest inside certain theatres, and the police detained them.
The film has been facing a widespread backlash since the release of the trailer, which claimed an arbitrary number (32,000) of Kerala women were converted to Islam, and taken to ISIS-ruled Syria. However, after intense criticism asking the makers to prove the veracity, the claim was reduced to just 3 women.
Following the release of the film's trailer, a petition was filed at the Supreme Court seeking a stay on its release on the grounds of 'hate speech' and 'audio-visual propaganda', But the SC didn't entertain the request, and the film got released on May 5.
Produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, The Kerala Story stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani and Siddhi Idnani, among others.