In spite of having obtained legal clearance, The Kerala Story 2 – Goes Beyond has received a low-key response from theatres across Kerala, with advance bookings and audience response remaining low on its first full day of release on Saturday (February 28, 2026).
The release of The Kerala Story 2 – Goes Beyond has faced legal hurdles. The film’s release was halted on Friday (February 27) as a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court stayed an interim order issued by a single judge that had halted the release. Due to the timing of the court’s verdict, the film could only be screened at a handful of theatres on Friday night. The film could only be screened at a handful of theatres on Friday night as the court gave its clearance late in the evening. The film could be screened at only three or four theatres on Friday night. The film has now been released at almost 80 theatres on Saturday. The response has remained low, especially considering the controversy that had surrounded its release.
It is now screening in about 80 theatres. However, the response is lukewarm and not proportional to the controversy that has surrounded its release, said K. Vijayakumar, president of the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala. He said that earlier, controversies helped draw crowds to theatres, but audience behavior has changed significantly in recent years.
The advance booking of tickets did not indicate the kind of hype that the legal tussle between the makers of the movie and the legal case against it had created. It seems that the movie did not draw crowds, especially in urban centers, where films of political and social content are usually carefully watched by the audience.
Suresh Shenoy, who is the managing director of the Shenoys Group of theatres, had similar views. “Controversy alone will not draw spectators to theatres unless the content of the movie is good and reaches the audience. Legal tussles, political debates, may draw people to social media, but that’s as far as it goes.”
Nevertheless, Shenoy remembered that the first installment, *The Kerala Story*, was able to manage a near two-week run in the state of Kerala. This was because the first part of the film primarily relied on word-of-mouth publicity, rather than advance bookings.
For the sequel, there has been an even stronger backlash before the release of the film. The teaser and trailer of the film were criticized for being propagandist in nature, showing a poor light on the state of Kerala and its Muslim population. This led to a backlash on social media, with many users from the community of Malayalis criticizing the content of the film’s narrative and sharing satirical memes on social media.
There were several petitions filed before the High Court against the censor certificate that was issued to the film, seeking a stay on the release of the film due to concerns over communal harmony. During the hearing of the case, the court had emphasized the importance of films that claimed to be based on ‘true events,’ particularly when the content of the film has the potential to create unrest in social harmony.
Even as the Division Bench allowed the screening of the film, it appears that the legal scrutiny has impacted the film’s run to a certain extent. This is also indicated by theatre owners who pointed out that it is possible that the controversy surrounding the film, as well as public criticism, may have dissuaded audiences from visiting theatres on the opening day.
Trade experts have indicated that the performance of the film in the coming days would depend less on the controversy surrounding it and more on how audiences respond to it. “If audiences respond to it, it may still work for it. Otherwise, it’s a limited run for this film in Kerala,” said a trade expert who is familiar with the box office trends in Kerala.
However, for now, even as the film has been given a green light for screening, “The Kerala Story 2 – Goes Beyond” has made a lacklustre start to its theatrical run in Kerala, reiterating that controversy alone does not seem to be enough to attract audiences to a film.
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