PIL seeks removal of ‘Kerala’ from the title of ‘The Kerala Story 2 – Goes Beyond’

A new public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Kerala High Court on Tuesday seeking the removal of ‘Kerala’ from the title of the Hindi film The Kerala Story 2 – Goes Beyond.

The petitioners, a retired social science teacher and a lawyer, also mentioned that the filmmakers had challenged before a Division Bench of the court a recent Single Bench order that had issued an interim stay on the film’s release allegedly before it was uploaded.

The Single Judge had issued a fortnight long interim stay, observing that the teaser had a prima facie potential to distort public perception of Kerala and to disturb communal harmony. After hearing an appeal against the stay order, the Division Bench had permitted screening of the film. It observed that once the censor certificate was issued, there is prima facie a presumption that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has taken into account all the guidelines pertaining to its contents.

In the PIL filed on Tuesday, the petitioners alleged that apart from showing Kerala in a bad light by reportedly portraying it as a hub of forced conversions, the film could create hatred towards members of the Muslim community in the State.

The petitioners further sought a High Court directive to the Centre and to the CBFC to permit screening of the film with a disclaimer that it was based on a purely fictional theme. They also sought a directive to the Centre and to the CBFC to frame guidelines to ensure that titles and tag lines of films did not denigrate any State, region, caste or religion.