Another Kashmir Files? The Kerala Story clocks massive advance bookings despite poor reviews

The Kerala Story has secured the fifth highest advance bookings of the year, selling 32,000 tickets in national chains. Despite facing competition from Hollywood blockbuster The Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3, which also registered good advance bookings, The Kerala Story is expected to perform well at the box office, with total collections estimated to exceed the ₹10 crore net India mark.

The film's success in advance bookings places it ahead of other Hindi films that were released this year, including Shehzada and Selfiee. Moreover, its performance demonstrates that controversy does not necessarily hurt a film's box office prospects. Previous examples of successful controversial films include The Kashmir Files, which achieved unprecedented business of almost ₹250 crores net in India in 2022.

The Kerala Story tickets

In Delhi-NCR, some shows at PVR: Pacific, Subhash Nagar, PVR: Select City Walk, PVR: Vegas LUXE, PVR: Gold, Logix City Centre, Noida and Cinepolis: Unity One Mall Rohini are either “almost full” or “filling fast”, as BookMyShow. So is the case in Mumbai for Cinepolis: VIP Viviana Mall, Thane, Cinepolis: Viviana Mall, Thane, Cinepolis: Nexus Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, INOX: Palm Beach Galleria Mall, Navi Mumbai and PVR: Orion Mall, Panvel.

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Even South Indian cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai have some evening shows almost full. A number of shows at Shenoys Theatre in Kochi, Kerala are nearly full or are filling fast.

The Kerala Story review

While Adah Sharma’s performance is being appreciated, the movie hasn’t received many positive reviews. “Stay as far away from director Sudipto Sen’s asinine film as you can… we watch ghastly films so you won’t have to,” Manisha Lakhe wrote on OTTplay.

“The Kerala Story is manipulative storytelling at its best, and that isn’t good. Be a clever audience and ask questions about the content you are watching,” wrote Shubham Kulkarni on KoiMoi.

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“The Kerala Story deploys the tools of fiction to support Sen’s claim that behind every Hindi-Muslim interaction, there lies sinister intent,” wrote Nandini Ramnath on Scroll.in.

“But The Kerala Story turns too melodramatic and manipulative due to the excessiveness of its background score, which literally highjacks the actors’ performances to inform us about the intent and turmoil of the characters,'' as per Vinamra Mathur of FirstPost.

As per The Times of India, the “thought-provoking” film “surely manages to leave an impact”. “Kerala Story is a technically sound film and might interest even those who oppose it,” wrote Navneet Vyasan on News18.