Kolkata, May 9 (). The West Bengal government’s decision to ban the screening of the film The Kerala Story in the state has left civil society divided. Those who are against the ban cite three different logical grounds – first, the justification for banning a film which has been cleared by the censor board, second, the effectiveness of the ban in this age of OTT Will be able to live, when soon the film will be available on OTT platform and thirdly, by banning the film, the government has actually increased the craze among the people towards it.
On the other hand, those who are in favor of the decision to ban the film feel that there was a risk in allowing the screening of the film in view of the socio-cultural changes that have taken place in West Bengal in recent times and hence the state government has taken a risk. You have done the right thing by not taking it.
According to Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) general secretary Ranjit Sur, by the time the decision was taken to ban the film’s release, the film had been screened for four days in different multiplexes across the state.
Soor said, but there has not been a single report of law and order problem regarding the screening of the film. The state government should have allowed the screening of the film and let the people of the state decide whether they accept or reject it. I do not think that by banning the release of the film, the state government has taken a radical step against attempts to create a communal divide. It is a pure political game keeping in mind the polarization of vote banks.
Kaushik Gupta, senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court, said that such a ban on the screening of films in cinema halls or multiplexes is useless in the present era of internet and OTT.
Gupta said, there are already reports of the film getting leaked online. Very soon the film will be seen on one or more OTT platforms. How will the state government stop people from visiting there? Rather this ban will now encourage even those people who have not gone to see the film.
Renowned painter Subhaprasanna, who is known to be very close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, disagrees with the state government’s argument for banning the film. According to him, he has always been against forced protests against any creative work. He said that he does not see any logic in the ban imposed by the state government when the censor board has given the go-ahead for the release of the film. People should have the freedom to accept or reject the film, he added.
However, poet and educationist Subodh Sarkar feels that the state government has done the right thing by banning the film as it has enough elements to create tension. He said, in my opinion, the state government has done the right thing by not allowing the spark to turn into a fire.
SGK
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