Sudipto Sen, the director of “The Kerala Story,” has accused the West Bengal government of imposing a politically motivated ban on his film. In a recent interview, he urged state chief minister Mamata Banerjee to watch the film before making a decision. Sen also pointed out that Banerjee had supported Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat when it faced a ban in 2018.
West Bengal has become the first state to ban “The Kerala Story,” a film that depicts the trafficking of three women to ISIS camps after their conversion to Islam through marriage. State chief minister Mamata Banerjee cited the need to maintain peace and avoid incidents of violence as reasons for the ban. However, director Sudipto Sen has called the decision politically motivated and requested Banerjee to watch the film before making any judgments. He emphasized that there were no issues during the film’s four-day run in Kolkata and criticized Banerjee and Mahua Moitra for being champions of free speech and human rights but not allowing the film’s screening.
He also added, “I requested her to watch the film first and not to decide on people’s opinions. You will like the film, you will be proud that the Bengali director made this responsible film. After watching the film, everyone started liking the film so much that all the debates ended automatically. There was one problem that too was not a major problem in Tamil Nadu. There was a guy who used to threaten the movie hall owners. Every time, if there is any issue in Tamil Nadu that particular gentleman use to stand by and created problems. After all this, the Tamil Nadu High Court allowed us and said there is no logic to ban the film if the censor board has already given the clearance.”
The movie has been made tax-free in Madhya Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has also decided to make it tax-free in the state. A massive controversy erupted around the film after its trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS. However, in the face of protests, the contentious figure in the trailer was later withdrawn.
