REVEALED: Kerala High Court cites Padmaavat, Aarakshan verdicts to clear The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond’s release February 28, 2026 at 02:47PM
On February 27, the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, comprising Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice P V Balakrishnan, stayed a Single Judge’s interim order that had halted the release of the film The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond for 15 days. The Single Judge had relied on excerpts from the film’s teaser to conclude that the content had the prima facie potential to disturb communal harmony and that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) may not have adequately applied its mind under Section 5B of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. However, the appellate Bench emphasized a critical constitutional principle: once the CBFC, a statutory expert body, has granted certification after viewing the film in its entirety, courts must ordinarily presume due application of mind. In arriving at this conclusion, the Bench drew heavily from two landmark Supreme Court precedents. First, in Prakash Jha Productions v. Union of India, decided in 2011 in the context of the film Aaraks...