Celebs who raised voice against ‘The Kerala Story’s no show in West Bengal

Amidst ‘The Kerala Story’s unstoppable box office run despite multiple controversies several celebs have already raised their voice extending their support to the Sudiptio Sen directorial. The film still finding no show in West Bengal even after the Supreme Court’s stay order on the West Government’s ban has kicked up a social media storm. Even many well-known faces from the Bengali film fraternity itself have questioned such an adverse situation while the film surpassed the Rs 200 crore mark to become of the major Hindi-language blockbusters. Read on…

'The Kerala Story’ not the first one, these films also faced trouble in West Bengal

National Award-winning director Goutam Ghose who was once on Censor Board revising committee has his say on the current scenario. “During Arun Jaitley’s tenure, we had advised to give the censor issue more freedom and he was quite impressed with our suggestions. But due to some unknown reasons, it didn’t work out. In our proposal, we stated that if there’s a possibility of law and order situation getting affected because of a film government can make their own decision whether to stop the screening or not,” recalled Goutam. At the same time, he feels that in this age of digitalization and rise of OTT platforms, you can’t stop a film from reaching out to the audience.

Director Raj Chakraborty, who’s a TMC MLA and chairperson of the Kolkata International Film Festival, has opened up on the controversy. He asked a vital question – why the film industry will always be utilized to achieve political goals? His comments have once again ignited the debate – politics over film. “Every political party has its own strategy. Party works differently on different issues. But the sad reality is that film industry has always suffered the most. This entertainment industry has been used as a weapon on several occasions. We have been targeted by political parties over the years.” While Raj didn’t say anything about the ban but his words clearly suggest he is not too happy with the decision. He’s also worried to see how films are being used for political agendas.

Acclaimed filmmaker Aniket Chattopadhyay was the first to question the ban. He asked that in this digital era and the OTT boom is it really possible to stop public from seeing a film. Aniket questions, “It will soon release on OTT? How will the Bengal government stop it then?” Instead, he prefers to select an alternative way to counter a film, “If you want to protest ‘The Kerala Story’ then hit it hard with a counter-narrative and make a film. Make films like Gandhi Files, Savarkar Files, or Godhra Files. That will be more justified.”

The West Bengal government had earlier stated that they took the decision to maintain peace in the state, but seasoned actor Rudranil Ghosh strongly opposed the decision. After the stay order from Supreme Court, Rudranil said that this was expected. “They banned the film to fulfill their political interests, to regain the lost votes, and to create divisions between the majorities and minorities. This was a weak script. I have been opposing the decision from the first day. How can a film be banned after it was passed by the censor board? This was a politically motivated step. The government cannot earn two pennies in West Bengal, but it ruined the business by opposing the audience,” the actor said.

Anik Datta whose film ‘Bhabishyater Bhoot’ was once taken down from cinema halls without any justification said that the ban was a ‘stupid’ decision from the state government. “State government has no jurisdiction in banning a film, only the Censor Board can do it. If you have a legal issue then go to the court. You can’t just stop a film from screening in theatres. There’s much more to this. I think after the announcement of the ban people got more curious about ‘The Kerala Story’ and it worked in favour of the makers of the film. The box office numbers have proved it.

"In this age of digitalization and the huge popularity of OTT platforms, there's no reason in banning a film. If you stop a film's theatrical screening soon it will move to OTT premiere. How will you stop it? There's no OTT censorship. Also, I don't think a film can influence society on a large scale. Yes, we often say that a film holds a mirror to society but that's not the case here. So, I think stopping a film from reaching out to its audience makes no sense," explains Sayantan.