The Kerala Story box office day 17: Film to cross ₹200 crore today, 2nd Hindi film to do this after Pathaan

CineEye,

The Kerala Story has reached the ₹198 crore mark and is now all set to cross ₹200 crore. It will now aim for the ₹250 crore mark.

The Kerala Story is finally set to cross the ₹200 crore mark on Monday. The film collected an impressive ₹11.50 crore on its third Sunday, taking its total to ₹198 crore. Directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Shah, The Kerala Story claims that many women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State (IS). It released in theatres on May 5 and stars Adah Sharma, Sonia Balani, Yogita Bihani and Siddhi Idnani.

Sharing the box office collection of the film in its third weekend, film trade analyst Taran Adarsh wrote on Twitter on Monday, “Double century… #TheKeralaStory will hit ₹ 200 cr today [Mon; Day 18]… The second #Hindi film to cross the coveted number in 2023, after #Pathaan [Jan 2023]… [Week 3] Fri 6.60 cr, Sat 9.15 cr, Sun 11.50 cr. Total: ₹ 198.97 cr. #India biz. Nett BOC. #Bxoffice.”

The commercial success of the film is despite the film not running in theatres in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Amid protests, theatre owners had stopped the screening of the film few days after its release. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had banned the film in the state but the Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the ban. As per the latest report on Saturday, The Kerala Story continued to remain absent from Bengal’s movie halls as theatre-owners remained aloof from screening the controversial film. Satadeep Saha, distributor of the film in Bengal, told PTI, “There is no change in the situation … no theatre owner has said yes as yet (to showing the film)”.

On Friday the movie’s director Sudipto Sen had speculated that movie hall owners here were perhaps afraid of showing the controversial film, which the state had earlier banned fearing it may cause “communal disturbances”. He said at a press conference on Friday that he has been told by several hall owners that they have been threatened “by certain quarters” and asked not to screen the film.

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