PIL targets The Kerala Story 2, seeks removal of ‘Kerala’ from title amid communal concerns

A new Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Kerala High Court challenging the title and release of the recently released film The Kerala Story 2. The petition, submitted on March 3 by a retired social science teacher and a practicing lawyer, calls for the removal of the word “Kerala” from the film’s title, arguing that it unfairly associates the State with sensitive and controversial themes. According to the plea, the petitioners contend that the film’s title and subject matter risk portraying Kerala in a negative light. They have alleged that the narrative reportedly depicts the State as a centre for forced religious conversions, a portrayal they believe could damage its social and cultural image. The petition also references an ongoing legal tussle involving the filmmakers. It notes that the producers have approached a Division Bench of the High Court challenging a recent interim order issued by a Single Bench, which had temporarily stayed the film’s release. T...

Golda review – lifeless Meir biopic hides Helen Mirren’s talent in a cloud of cigarette smoke

As a drama about the Yom Kippur war, this film is bafflingly dull. As a portrait of Golda Meir, Israel’s prime minister at the time, it’s even worse

Helen Mirren’s latexed and enhanced portrayal of Golda Meir, Israel’s “Iron Lady” prime minister during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, has been overtaken by a debate about “Jewface” casting because Mirren is not Jewish – addressing why Jews are casually excluded from the otherwise fiercely policed sensibilities about authenticity and identity on screen. (Would they get a white actor, for example, to black up as President Anwar Sadat?) It’s a valid and important question, but not exactly the problem in this stately, stuffy and at times almost comatose TV-movie-type drama about tension in Israel’s corridors of power as the Yom Kippur war exploded and the country faced off against Egypt, Syria and Jordan in a battle for its very existence.

Mirren, normally such a sparkling performer, is lumbered with a grey wig, false nose and jowls, with occasional headscarf and handbag, making her look as if she is playing the Queen doing an impression of Richard Nixon. This Golda Meir impassively chainsmokes her way through wooden potted-history dialogue scenes with her military top brass, while everyone blows cigarette smoke at each other; occasionally she takes a break to lie prostrate on a hospital bed, stoically smoking and dying of cancer. Is she going to die? Why not? The film is flatlining.

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