The Tamil Nadu Government has told the Supreme Court that there is no shadow ban on ‘The Kerala Story’, and the theatres have halted the film screening due to poor audience response. The statements made by the filmmakers about the government imposing a shadow ban on the movie are not true, the State said.
According to reports, an affidavit that was filed by the government said, "The exhibitors have themselves stopped the screening of the movie due to the poor audience response and the government cannot do anything to increase the audience patronage for the said film, except to provide security to the cinema theatres."
Earlier, the top court asked the state government to file a response to the filmmakers' appeal asserting that State has imposed a de facto ban on the movie in the State.
Filing the affidavit, the State said that the theatre owners had voluntarily stopped screening the film on May 7 onwards due to poor performance of actors, poor response to the movie or lack of well-known actors in the movie.
"The multiplex owners took the decision to stop screening the film from May 5 in view of the criticism received by it, lack of well-known actors, poor performance, poor audience response. The State exercises no control over decisions. It is reiterated that the theatre owners made this decision on their own and the State had no role to play over the same," the affidavit read.
Tamil Nadu refuted the allegations of filmmakers that the State had imposed a "shadow ban" or issued an ”alert” anticipating protests in connection with the film's release due to which theatres in the State withdrew the film.
The movie was released across 19 multiplexes, and the State has deployed more police forces in every multiplex to provide security to cinema-goers. The State has refuted the allegations of filmmakers that it had imposed a "shadow ban" or issued an ”alert” anticipating protests in connection with the film's release.
The affidavit further added that over 965 police personnel including 25 DSPs were posted for the protection of the 21 movie theatres which had screened the film.
The makers in the apex court also alleged that the movie is facing a 'shadow' ban in Tamil Nadu and sought protection for screening the film in the southern State.
