Adah Sharma, Sudipto Sen, and Vipul Amrutlal Shah released a gripping new story titled Bastar: The Naxal Story in 2023, following the enormous popularity of The Kerala Story. It was anticipated to perform well at the box office and is among the most talked about movies of 2024.

However, on its first day, the film manages to earn only Rs 50 lakh. The film’s business suffered greatly as a result of the conflict with Yodha, starring Sidharth Malhotra.

Bastar: The Naxal Story reportedly had an overall occupancy rate of 7.97% on Friday, with the night shows making up a significant portion of this.

It’s Friday domestic box office earnings came in at just Rs 50 lakh. On its first day of release, the film directed by Sudipto and produced by Vipul earned Rs 8 crore. After then, it continued to grow at the box office gradually, reaching an outstanding lifetime total of Rs 242 crore in India.

Soon after the film’s first teaser was unveiled, it raised the political temperature in the country. A section of people termed it a ‘propaganda’ film.

About the film

The film, which is based on the Naxal insurgency in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, examines the hardships faced by the local populace without delving into the political aspects of the problem. In the film, Adah portrays an IPS officer.

Following the uproar over The Kerala Story, Vipul made it clear earlier this week that Bastar: The Naxal Story isn’t a political story. They had no intention of engaging in politics. Their goal is to investigate human tragedy. The average person is the true victim, and all politics is biased towards one side. When will they be able to express their pain to others? Normally, we would curse at politicians and move on, but this actual human tragedy must be addressed, he stated.

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After the success of The Kerala Story, filmmaker Sudipto Sen is presenting his highly anticipated film Bastar: The Naxal Story. The film featuring Adah Sharma in the lead role released in cinemas on Friday. Bastar tells the story of challenging terrain of Naxalism and aims to unravel its origins and repercussions, albeit with a predominantly simplistic portrayal. The story of Bastar is rooted in the historical context of the Bastar rebellion, which originated in 1910 in today’s Chhattisgarh.

The Terrorism drama has received mixed reactions from the audiences. Some fans praised the film while others called it brutal and disturbing. Twitter users and fans began to comment on Bastar and reviews started pouring in on social media shortly after the release of the film in cinemas.

One social media user Tarun said Bastar: The Naxal Story is a must watch. He said the audience should watch this film to understand the leftist ecosystem in India. He said the film helps the viewers to understand how Naxalites and Urban Naxals work in tandem.

He said the film shows snakes hidden in India disguised as political leaders, activists, social workers, intellectuals, university professors, authors, journalists, lawyers, judges. He said the film helps the viewers to understand who the real enemies are. He said Bastar tells the truth about a subject which no other filmmaker has dared to touch.

Tarun said Bastar is based on joint Anti naxal operation of CRPF, Chhattisgarh Police and Salwa Judum (State sponsored civilian anti naxal movement) during 2009-13 in Chhattisgarh and Supreme Court hearing to ban Salwa Judum filed by Urban naxal Nalini Sundar.

The film is fast passed and the audience does not get time to blink their eyes. He said the background music of the film is awesome and the cinematography is very good. He said the film has graphic violence.  

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The makers of The Kerala Story claimed that India had been in “denial” of the existence of the “long existing issue” in Kerala as the controversial film was released in over 200 theatres in the United States and Canada on Friday.

Speaking to a group of Indian American reporters during a virtual presser, Sudipto Sen, the director of the polarising film called  The Kerala Story a “mission” and a “movement” which must reach masses across the world to raise awareness.

Sen claimed that India had been in denial of the “long existing issue” in Kerala and his film is the first to shed light on the subject.

The film’s producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah voiced similar thoughts saying that the subject that is “exposed’ in The Kerala Story has been hidden from the people and deserved to be told, adding that they made the movie to initiate a worldwide deliberation on the Kerala issue.

Vipul Shah termed The Kerala Story a “very bold, honest and true” film that got no support in the beginning but has witnessed blockbuster-level success within a mere week of its release and now stands on the verge of a worldwide release.

‘The Kerala Story’ has sparked a massive controversy since its first trailer—which claimed that 32,000 women from the state were converted to Islam and recruited by global terror group Islamic State—  hit the screens in November last year.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who has vehemently opposed the film, recently termed it as a “deliberately produced” piece of Sangh Parivar propaganda aimed to create communal divide and spread hatred among Hindus and Muslims in the state.

The film was issued an ‘A’ certificate by the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and told to delete 10 scenes, including an interview with a former chief minister of Kerala, ahead of its theatrical release.

The BJP has vociferously backed the Sudipto Sen directorial with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising the film for “exposing a terror conspiracy” and accusing the Congress of “siding with terrorists” and trying to appease them for political gain by opposing the film’s release.

BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Yogi Adityanath have declared the film tax-free in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Meanwhile, the opposition has vehemently opposed the Adah Sharma-starrer, dubbing it as a piece of Sangh Parivar-backed propaganda piece aimed to stir communal tensions and polarize the BJP’s vote bank ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

On Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee banned the screening of the controversial Bollywood film in the state, while on May 7 (Sunday), multiplexes in Tamil Nadu had stopped screenings of the ‘The Kerala Story’ citing law and order threats and poor response to the movie from the audience in the southern state.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea challenging the Kerala High Court’s interim order which refused to ban the release of Adah Sharma-starrer. The hearing is listed on May 15.

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Sudipto Sen’s controversial film The Kerala Story has been hogging headlines since its teaser last year. Starring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani, the film has triggered a debate on social media over its plot.

On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made the film tax-free. CM Chouhan, in a tweet, said The Kerala Story is a film that has exposed the horrific truth of terrorism and has been decided to make the film tax-free in Madhya Pradesh.

In a video, Chouhan said the film shows how the life of daughters get trapped by love jihad and it also exposes the design of terrorism. He further said the film creates awareness about conversion and should be watched by all.

Have a look at the tweet here:

Written and helmed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story hit the silver screen on May 5 amid the ongoing controversy. The film is said to have falsely claimed in its teaser that 32,000 missing women in Kerala converted to Islam and joined the terror outfit, ISIS.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the film a product of the Sangh Parivar’s factory of lies. CM Vijayan said the Sangh Parivar is attempting to take forward its divisive politics using fake stories through such films as its methods, which were successful in other places, did not work in Kerala by spreading such myths without any fact or evidence.

The Kerala High Court on Friday refused to stay the release of The Kerala Story saying the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole.

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