Video grab of a scene from ‘The Kerala Story 2’ trailer. Photo credit: The Hindu
Even as the Kerala High Court on Thursday (February 26, 2026) issued an interim stay on the release of the Hindi feature film The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond and further posted for orders the outcome of the pleas that challenged the issuance of censor certificate for the film, the petitioners informed the court on Friday (February 27, 2026) that booking of tickets for the film was on.
The film was scheduled for release on Friday. The petitioners informed the court that the booking of tickets for the movie was possible on Friday despite the stay order for 15 days. The petitioners had approached the High Court alleging that the film’s teaser and trailer portrayed Kerala in a bad light.
The High Court had on Thursday asked how the court can decide the case without viewing the film, while referring to the alleged reluctance of the filmmakers to screen the film before the High Court Bench hearing the case.
‘Prerogative of storyteller’
The filmmakers had contented before the court that the censor certificate was issued after an expert committee viewed the contents, while the storyline and the choice of religion being shown in the film were “the prerogative of the storyteller.” They added that the film, for which huge sums had been spent, was set to be released in 1,500 theatres in India and in over 100 theatres abroad on Friday.
One of the petitioners, who hails from Kannur, said before the court that his “right to reputation stood to be affected” by the contents of the movie. He risked being discriminated against, just because he hailed from Kerala, since the entire State was being shown in a bad light in the film.
“There are hundreds of of similarly affected people, especially those who are settled outside Kerala. It is constitutionally impermissible to denigrate any community,” he said, adding that releasing the movie would cause “irreparable damage” to Kerala’s name.
He added that the claim in The Kerala Story, the prequel, that 32,000 Kerala women were radicalised, turned out to be false.
Published – February 27, 2026 12:37 pm IST