Dikhyaa Mohanty 
According to media reports, Muslim activists in Birmingham rushed a screening of the divisive Bollywood film “The Kerala Story,” which has caused a rift in India over concerns that it undermines “religious harmony.” ‘The Kerala Story’ was being screened on Friday at a Cineworld theater in Birmingham when a group of demonstrators led by Kashmiri activist Shakeel Afsar interfered, according to the Daily Mail.
A 10-minute video footage posted on the British Muslim news website “5Pillars” shows Afsar, 35, escorting a crowd of protesters into the theater, which stopped the movie. In the video, Afsar and at least two other people approach the theater manager to discuss the movie’s ‘Islamophobic’ content. According to the Daily Mail, audience members were spotted approaching the campaigners and begging them to leave as mayhem broke out and the Cineworld crew was forced to stop the film.
After the security guards had escorted the activists out of the theater, a theater employee was heard advising the crowd, “If you want to see this movie, you need calm down first. I’m going to pick up this movie again. We’re doing all we can to handle this. We have stopped the movie, turned on the lights, and contacted the police. Afsar, a businessman and real estate developer, spearheaded a push to have “The Lady of Heaven” removed from theaters last year. After protesting against the teaching of LGBT values in Birmingham in 2019, he was also forbidden from holding future demonstrations there, according to the Daily Mail.
