The Kerala Story star Adah Sharma has spoken out against the ban on the film in West Bengal, saying that banning a movie without watching it is ‘not right’.
The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma, has been making headlines for several reasons ever since its release. Just a couple of days after its release, the film was banned in West Bengal. Last week, Supreme Court issued a notice to the West Bengal Government seeking the reason behind the ban on The Kerala Story in the state. Now in an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, the actress has said that banning a movie without watching it is ‘not right’. She called it “a disrespect” to the Central Board of Film Certification.
“How it is a win for us? For one week it has been banned now. I don’t understand why. I am not the authority on it, I don’t have a say. But I feel the censor board is the official jury for all movies, everywhere. If they decide, maybe people should watch it and then have an opinion on it, whether they like it or not. But banning without watching? I don’t know. That’s not right. Then we are not respecting the censor board at all,” Adah told us.
“Still people are so supportive, despite it being banned in some places. We are really grateful to the audience who went to watch,” the actress added.
The Kerala Story’s screening was recently cancelled in the United Kingdom too. Reacting to the same, Adah said, “I don’t understand this either, banned in some places and delayed in others.”
During the interaction, Adah also said that The Kerala Story has become a ‘movement’ now. “It is not just a film to them anymore. There are people in South (Indian states) watching it and they are like, ‘I know someone who went through this’. It is almost like a movement now, like women’s empowerment. When I meet people now, I see that it is so much more to them now,” she said.
Released on May 5, The Kerala Story revolves around the stories of Hindu women from Kerala who were converted to Islam and trafficked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It is produced by Vipul Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen.