Adah Sharma’s The Kerala Story, which has received mixed reviews from critics, is poised to shock everyone with its opening day box office haul.
The Kerala Story, a production of Vipul Shah, has succeeded in building buzz despite lacking a celebrity cast from a major studio. Adah Sharma of the Commando fame appears in the movie, which debuted in theatres on Friday, May 5, amidst intense controversy and numerous petitions against its distribution. The stories of Hindu women from Kerala who converted to Islam and were then smuggled to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are at the centre of the Kerala Story.
According to the petitions, the movie portraying women in Kerala joining ISIS is not factually accurate and incites animosity towards the Muslim population. In fact, there have been comparisons made on the internet between the Sudipto Sen film and Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, which was criticised and called for a boycott when it was first released for allegedly defaming the Kashmiri Muslim population. However, the movie ended up being a financial success and played in theatres for more than two months. The flight of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in 1990 served as the inspiration for it.
Amidst the ongoing comparisons between the two movies, we spoke to film business experts to find out whether The Kerala Story has the potential to go The Kashmir Files’ way at the box office.
“The days when a movie’s star power was its lone saving grace are long gone. Content is king right now. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but currently, people appreciate engaging narratives. This movie is getting a lot of hype. Over the weekend, it should undoubtedly ramp up the pace. Girish Johar, a producer and expert in the film industry, told us, “I hope it works because it will be wonderful for our industry.
Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi’s film The Kashmir Files, which also stars Mithun Chakraborty, opened slowly at the box office with barely Rs 3.5 crores in sales on day one. But thanks to enthusiastic word of mouth, the movie picked up steam over the weekend. The movie’s day three receipts were more than Rs 15 crores, compared to its second day’s earnings of Rs 8.50 crores. The movie made a total of 340 crores rupees in gross revenue over its whole life. Additionally, similarly like The Kashmir Files, film trade analyst Taran Adarsh is “quite confident” that The Kerala Story could come as a “big surprise” at the box office.
The Kerala Story has received fantastic feedback, according to Adarsh.
“Today, I watched the movie, and the theatre was really crowded. The theatre administration informed me that audiences are packed for all of the shows. Everyone will be shocked by the Friday box office results, and the movie will undoubtedly pick up its pace during the weekend. It’s too soon to predict whether the movie will repeat The Kashmir Files phenomena, but I have no doubt that it will.
The Kerala Story’s opening day revenue will surpass that of The Kashmir Files, according to movie industry analyst Atul Mohan’s forecast. Given that The Kerala Story was launched on a small number of screens, Mohan predicted that it will likely make between Rs 6 crore and Rs 7 crore on its first day.
However, Mohan believes that it will be a little tough for The Kerala Story to surpass the lifetime box office collections of The Kashmir Files as it’s not been getting very great reviews. “If you look at The Kashmir Files, the film had received decent reviews, especially from the movie-going audience. The reviews for The Kerala Story are mixed so far. The Kerala Story can go The Kashmir Files way at the box office only if the moviegoers show it the same kind of support,” he added.
Additionally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had previously criticised individuals who were opposed to The Kashmir Files, has been a vocal supporter of The Kerala Story, claiming that “there’s a conspiracy to discredit it.”
At a BJP election rally on Friday in Bellari, Karnataka, Prime Minister Modi claimed that The Kerala Story showed how terrorism was destroying Kerala. Additionally, he said that by attempting to “ban” the movie, Congress was defending terrorism.
“Terrorism has taken a new form now. Apart from using weapons and bombs, they are working towards making society hollow from the inside out. ‘The Kerala Story’ movie has exposed this new face of terrorism. The movie sheds light on how terrorism is corroding the society of Kerala. And now, Congress is supporting those elements who are defending terrorism by trying to ban this film,” Modi said.
It will be interesting to see if these immensely packed theatres and the shout-out from PM Modi will help The Kerala Story become the next ‘Kashmir Files’ of Indian cinema at the box office.
Read : Sejal News Network
