The Kerala Story mysteriously pulled from British cinemas after not receiving age certification
The much in news The Kerala Story was recently pulled from the cinemas in Britain after the movie failed to receive age certification. It is illegal to screen movies in the UK without receiving the necessary certification from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). All the tickets were refunded.
The Kerala Story mysteriously pulled from British cinemas after not receiving age certification
According to a report in Times Of India, BBFC said, “The Kerala Story is still going through our classification process. Once the film has received a BBFC age rating and content advice, it will be available to be screened in UK cinemas.”
As per the same report, Suresh Varsani, director of the movie’s UK distributor 24 SEVEN FLIX4U, contacted all the cinemas on Friday to pull down the movie from the theatres without classification. He said, “It is very concerning. I gave them the film on Wednesday and there were three versions — Hindi, Tamil and the Malayalam version. They watched one on Wednesday and the other two Thursday. Age classification is normally done on the day.”
Varsani kept emailing them on Thursday, May 11 and the response he received was that “compliance is reviewing it”. On May 12, he called them and they told him that it won’t be classified that day. “I am very suspicious that they have not given a valid reason. Why do they need more time when they have had three days? I have never come across a situation like this where a film has not been classified when it is meant to be released. USA, India, Australia and Canada and Ireland have all passed it. I don’t get what the issue is,” he said. He also said that between him and the cinemas, they have suffered a combined loss of £40,000 to £50,000 (Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 lakh).
The Kerala Story is produced by Mr. Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who is also the film’s creative director. Apart from Adah Sharma playing the role of the main lead, the film stars Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, Pranay Pachauri & Chandra Shekhar Dutta. Directed by Sudipto Sen under the banner Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd., the film released theatres on the 5th of May 2023.