The Kerala Story: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar declared Adah Sharma's film tax-free in the state. Chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand have already declared the screening of the film tax-free in the respective states. "The Kerala Story has been made tax free in Haryana," Khattar said in a tweet. Directed by Sudipto Sen, it depicts how women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State (IS).
The film has been at the centre of a controversy since it was released last week. BJP leaders have supported the film and urged other states to follow suit.
On the other hand, The Kerala Story will be released in 37 countries on May 12, Adah Sharma confirmed the news via social media. She took to Twitter to thank the audience for supporting the film. "Thank you to all the crores of you who are going to watch our film, thank you for making it trend, thank you for loving my performance. This weekend the 12th #TheKeralaStory releases internationally in 37 countries (or more) #adahsharma," the actor wrote in the post.
The film on conversion that has polarised the political discourse in the country, has earned Rs 56 crore at the box office since its release last Friday. The film has been banned in West Bengal and multiplexes in Tamil Nadu have stopped its screening citing law and order situation.
About The Kerala Story
In ‘The Kerala Story’, actress Adah Sharma plays the role of Fathima Ba, a Hindu Malayali nurse, who is among the 32,000 women who went missing from Kerala and were then recruited to the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) after being forced to convert to Islam. Also, the film highlights 'Love Jihad' propaganda, where Muslim men manipulate Hindu girls to convert to Islam and abandon their families.
Soon after the trailer of the film was released, a petition was filed against it on grounds of 'worst kind of hate speech' and 'audio-visual propaganda'. Many political leaders slammed the film and claimed that the makers are making false claims that it is a real story and that the number '32000 women' is fake.
