17 cuts, rape scene half, kissing half…CBFC made ‘soft’ film by cutting The Kerala Story 2; Know what changes happened before the release

New Delhi: The film ‘The Kerala Story’, released in 2023, had created a lot of controversies. Now its sequel ‘The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond’ is about to come, whose trailer came into discussion as soon as it was released. There has been a political debate on the film and there are demands from many places to stop it, but the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has passed the film with some changes.

CBFC gave changes and certificate

CBFC has ordered a total of 17 cuts and modifications in the film. After this the film has got U/A 16+ certificate, which means people above 16 years of age can watch it. Many sensitive scenes have been reduced so that the film is suitable for more people. The main changes are as follows:

• Disclaimer added in the film: The story is based on true events.
• Visuals of women being slapped or assaulted were reduced.
• Lip-lock kissing scenes were reduced by half (50%).
• Visuals of rape or sexual violence were also reduced by 50% from the original.
• Scenes involving women being hit on the head were reduced.
• Anti-tobacco warning added.
• The timing of statistic text with voice-over was increased.
• Some dialogues were changed and some words were muted.
• Change in the scene of bulldozer demolishing a house.
• Consent letter submitted for minor artist.
• A total of 31 seconds of deletion and 2 minutes 3 seconds of replacement were done in the investigation.
• The final runtime now remains 131 minutes 24 seconds.

Story and controversy of the film

The film is based on stories from three different states. It has been claimed in the trailer that India can become an Islamic State in the next 25 years. Incidents from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala are shown, where issues like forced religious conversion, cheating in the name of love and live-in relationships are prevalent.

Ulka Gupta, Aishwarya Ojha and Aditi Bhatia are in lead roles in the film. The director is Kamakhya Narayan Singh and the producer is Vipul Amritlal Shah. It is made under the banner of Sunshine Pictures.

movie release date

The film will hit the theaters on 27 February 2026. Controversy has increased after the trailer and the certificate has been challenged in the Kerala High Court, but after the changes by CBFC, the film is now ready for release.