Thiruvananthapuram, February 28 Former Governor of Mizoram, Kummanam Rajasekharan, said on Saturday that he would watch the film 'The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond', adding that he had seen the first installment of the franchise and found nothing objectionable.
Rajasekharan, who is also a former president of the BJP in the state, said that there was nothing wrong with the sequel and questioned how it could affect secularism in the state.
"I will definitely watch it. I saw the first film, and there was nothing wrong with it. This film is also fine. How will it affect secularism?" he asked while speaking to reporters.
When told that ticket sales for the movie were low, the senior BJP leader said that everyone is free to decide whether to watch the film or not.
He said the movie depicts the plight of women who face such issues, as shown in the film, and noted that books addressing similar topics had not faced objections.
Rajasekharan also claimed that minority communities, including Christians, have concerns about extremist activities.
Later in the day, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that while he was not interested in watching 'The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond', everyone has the right to make a movie, and if there is anything illegal in it, the courts will intervene.
He added that whether to see a film or not is an individual decision.
Chandrasekhar further said that everyone is entitled to their opinion about any film, but this should not affect someone else’s freedom of speech and expression.
"If I make a movie that you do not like, don't watch it," he told reporters in Kozhikode.
A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday paved the way for the release of 'The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond' by staying a single judge order that had put the film’s screening on hold for 15 days.
The bench said the single judge’s finding—that guidelines for certification had not been followed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)—was “merely on the basis of a few clippings and without viewing the movie” and therefore “cannot be countenanced.”
The single judge, on Thursday, had held that prima facie there was a manifest non-application of mind by the censor board. The judge also noted that “the possibility of communal disharmony or denigration of a community [was] prima facie involved in the movie,” and that its release without scrutiny by higher authorities would be legally improper.
The court had further said that the content of the film’s teaser had “a prima facie potential to distort public perception and disturb communal harmony.”
