On May 21, Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma tweeted in support of Adah Sharma starrer ‘The Kerala Story’. In a series of tweets, he praised the film and expressed his views about the Hindi film Industry. He made iconic movies iconic movies such as ‘Rangeela’, ‘Satya’, ‘Shool’, ‘Company’.
The filmmaker praised the film’s box-office success and called out the selective silence of the Hindi film Industry, “We are so comfortable in telling lies to both others and ourselves that when someone goes ahead and shows the truth we get SHOCKED.That explains the DEATH like SILENCE of BOLLYWOOD on the SHATTERING SUCCESS of #KeralaStory”.
We are so comfortable in telling lies to both others and ourselves that when someone goes ahead and shows the truth we get SHOCKED..That explains the DEATH like SILENCE of BOLLYWOOD on the SHATTERING SUCCESS of #KeralaStory
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) May 21, 2023
The filmmaker then said that the film is showing the hypocrisy of Bollywood, “The #KeralaStory is like a BEAUTIFUL GHOSTLY MIRROR showing the DEAD face of Main stream BOLLYWOOD to itself in all its UGLINESS”.
The #KeralaStory is like a BEAUTIFUL GHOSTLY MIRROR showing the DEAD face of Main stream BOLLYWOOD to itself in all its UGLINESS
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) May 21, 2023
He then said that the film would haunt the mainstream film industry, “The #KeralaStory will haunt like a mysterious fog in every story discussion room and every corporate house in BOLLYWOOD forever”.
The #KeralaStory will haunt like a mysterious fog in every story discussion room and every corporate house in BOLLYWOOD forever
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) May 21, 2023
The filmmaker further added that portraying truth is always more difficult than portraying lies, “It’s difficult to learn from #KeralaStory because it’s EASY to copy a LIE but very DIFFICULT to copy TRUTH”.
It’s difficult to learn from #KeralaStory because it’s EASY to copy a LIE but very DIFFICULT to copy TRUTH
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) May 21, 2023
Apart from Ram Gopal Varma, various celebrities came out in support of the film, such as, Vidyut Jammwal, Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher and Vivek Ranjan Aghnihotri.
Kangana Ranaut retweeted Azmi’s tweet and extended her support, “This is a very valid point except for the fact that no one asked for a ban on LSC (Laal Singh Chaddha) people just didn’t want to see it for many reasons, major reason was it was a remake of a very popular old Hollywood classic which most people had already seen…”.
This is a very valid point except for the fact that no one asked for a ban on LSC people just didn’t want to see it for many reasons, major reason was it was a remake of a very popular old Hollywood classic which most people had already seen … https://t.co/n4hLrMyZ9N
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) May 8, 2023
On May 6, the day after the film was released, ‘The Kashmir Files’ filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri went on Twitter and penned an open letter regarding the release of The Kerala Story.
He said that the lives of the team of the film ‘will not be the same’. Agnihotri warned the film’s team, including producer Vipul Shah, director Sudipto Sen and actor Adah Sharma, will ‘receive unimaginable hate, feel suffocated, get confused and demoralised’.
Even before the film’s release, it was under much controversy and faced flak from political parties such as Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF). The film even went through legal troubles but got immediate relief. The film was released on May 5 and got banned by West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress government, but got tax-free in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand.
Amid controversy, the film has done exceptionally well at the box office. Till May 21, as per the trade analysts, the film collected around Rs 198 crores and will enter into the 200 crore club.
