Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury welcomes SC stay on WB govt's ban on 'Kerala Story'

The Congress in West Bengal Thursday welcomed the Supreme Courts stay on the state governments order banning the screening of the film The Kerala StoryWelcoming the apex courts verdict the leader of the party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Thursday said he has himself watched the film and found it full of exaggerationsThe subject it portrays can be handled in better ways than restricting the film he said Besides a ban on films at the theatres or imposing restrictions on showing it is next to impossible in the modern digital age Chowdhury who is also the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president said Bengal was the first state to ban the filmIts plot follows the story a group of women from Kerala who are converted to Islam and join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS The film is premised on the theory of love jihad and claims that thousands of women from Kerala are being converted to Islam and recruited in the terror group Islamic State ISThe Kerala Story directed by Sudipto Sen and starring Adah Sharma was released in cinemas on May 5The top court passed the order after hearing crosspleas with the producer of the film challenging the ban on its screening in West Bengal and the decision by theatre owners in Tamil Nadu to not show the movie in the state Journalist Qurban Ali too challenged the Kerala High Court order refusing to stay the release of the filmAlso read MP elections Congress Kamal Nath promises free electricity aid for women and OPS for govt staffersThe Supreme Courts verdict is supreme We could have fought it the film in other ways by understanding the intention behind it Chowdhury told PTI Staying the Bengal governments order on the film on Thursday the apex court said it is the duty of the state government to maintain law and order as the film has been granted certification by the Central Board of Film Certification CBFCBad films bomb at the box office The legal provision cannot be used to put a premium on public intolerance Otherwise all films will find themselves in this spot it said Chowdhury said I have seen the movie and found a lot of exaggeration in it But that does not mean that I will put a ban on it I will have to be prudent and pragmatic in dealing with itHitting out at the BJP he said The Kerala Story was made taxfree in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as the saffron party in power in the two states are keen to divide the society They the two states never made films on revolutionary personalities of India tax free It shows that they are hell bent on dividing the society he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever