Congress welcomes SC stay on Bengal govt's ban on 'The Kerala Story'

The Congress in West Bengal Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's stay on the state government's order banning the screening of the film The Kerala Story.

Welcoming the apex court's verdict, the leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Thursday said he has himself watched the film and found it "full of exaggerations".

"The subject it portrays can be handled in better ways than restricting the film," he said. Besides, a ban on films at the theatres or imposing restrictions on showing it is next to impossible in the modern digital age, Chowdhury, who is also the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president, said.

Bengal was the first state to ban the film. Its plot follows the story of a group of women from Kerala who are converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The film is premised on the theory of 'love jihad' and claims that thousands of women from Kerala are being converted to Islam and recruited in the terror group Islamic State (IS).

The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen and starring Adah Sharma, was released in cinemas on May 5. The top court passed the order after hearing cross-pleas with the producer of the film challenging the ban on its screening in West Bengal and the decision by theatre owners in Tamil Nadu to not show the movie in the state. Journalist Qurban Ali too challenged the Kerala High Court order refusing to stay the release of the film.

"The Supreme Court's verdict is supreme ... We could have fought it (the film) in other ways by understanding the intention behind it," Chowdhury told PTI. Staying the Bengal government's order on the film on Thursday, the apex court said it is the duty of the state government to maintain law and order as the film has been granted certification by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). “Bad films bomb at the box office ... The legal provision cannot be used to put a premium on public intolerance. Otherwise, all films will find themselves in this spot,” it said.

Chowdhury said, "I have seen the movie and found a lot of exaggeration in it. But that does not mean that I will put a ban on it. I will have to be prudent and pragmatic in dealing with it". Hitting out at the BJP, he said The Kerala Story was made tax-free in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as the saffron party in power in the two states are keen to divide the society.

"They (the two states) never made films on revolutionary personalities of India tax free. It shows that they are hell bent on dividing the society," he added.