The Tamil Nadu government has issued an alert to all Collectors and Superintendents of Police for keeping a close vigil on the law and order situation in the State and maintaining it in the wake of the scheduled release of the feature film, The Kerala Story, on Friday.
The movie has kicked up a controversy among many parties and other groups in Kerala and elsewhere as the film, according to critics, has sought to portray Kerala as a fertile ground for recruiting impressionable youth for terrorist cause in the recent past. Reports in sections of the media indicated that the movie was scheduled for release in four languages — Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
A senior official said it was customary for the government to issue the alert whenever it foresaw the possibility of any trouble breaking out on account of certain events, including the release of feature films. The move was based on inputs from the intelligence wing of the police.
When asked whether the screening of the film was going to be banned, another official said, “There is no proposal before the government for the ban nor have we processed any such request.” Such a course of action had not been taken in Kerala, he added.
In late 2011, the Jayalalithaa-led government banned the screening of an English film Dam 999, the title of which indirectly pointed to the Mullaperiyar dam dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The ban is still in force for one more year, the official said, citing the sensitive nature of the dispute as the rationale behind the government’s action. In early 2013, the Kamal Haasan-starrer Vishwaroopam sparked protests by Muslim organisations. Initially, the authorities had banned the film. However, the movie-maker reached an understanding with the protesters and the ban was lifted.
In 2006, the exhibition of the film, The Da Vinci Code, was banned by the Karunanidhi-led government, but the Madras High Court allowed its screening.
