Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film claims to unearth the "truth" behind "thousands of innocent women" who were "systematically converted, radicalized & their lives destroyed"
A movie titled “The Kerala Story” stirred a political storm with parties in the southern state expressing their strong views on the film which revolves around the stories of Hindu women from Kerala who were converted to Islam and trafficked to ISIS and other Islamic war zones in 2018-2019.
Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film claims to unearth the “truth” behind “thousands of innocent women” who were “systematically converted, radicalized & their lives destroyed”.
The matter even reached the Supreme Court which however refused to hear a plea seeking a stay on the movie which is set to release on Friday.
Here are the top points on “The Kerala Story”:
- The Kerala Story’ is backed by Sunshine Pictures Private Limited, founded by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who serves as the producer, creative director and co-writer of the film. The film’s writer-director Sudipto Sen’s earlier movies are ‘Aasma’, ‘Lucknow Times’ and ‘The Last Monk.’
- According to the latest description of the trailer, shared on production banner Sunshine Pictures’ official YouTube page, “The Kerala Story” is “a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala… Thousands of innocent women have been systematically converted, radicalized & their lives destroyed…”
- Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the makers of “The Kerala Story”, saying they were taking up the Sangh Parivar propaganda of projecting the state as a centre of religious extremism by raising the issue of ‘love jihad’ — a concept rejected by the courts, probe agencies and the home ministry.
- The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala claimed that the film was “BJP sponsored” and part of the “Sangh Parivar agenda” to divide people and create animosity among them in the state.
- “The Kerala Story” producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah rejected allegations that the film is funded by the BJP, saying as filmmakers they have “nothing to do with any political party” and anything spoken about the film without watching it is “conjecture”.
- The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a stay on release of “The Kerala Story” on grounds that it’s a “worst kind of hate speech” and an “audio-visual propaganda”.
- A public interest litigation (PIL) was moved in the Kerala High Court on Tuesday against certain statements in the teaser and trailer of the film and seeking that the court set aside the certificate for public display given to the movie by the censor board. The High Court listed the matter for hearing on May 5 and sought the Centre’s views.
- The BJP has extended support to the controversial film, claiming that recruitment into the Islamic State (IS) terror outfit from Kerala cannot be denied and CM Pinarayi Vijayan was aware of the exact figures.
- Congress has urged the Kerala government not to give permission to screen the controversial movie ‘The Kerala Story’.
- Senior Congress leader and MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor said Keralites have every right to state that “The Kerala Story” is a “misrepresentation of our reality”. However, he said is not calling for a ban on the film as freedom of expression does not cease to be valuable just because it can be misused.
(With PTI inputs)
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