‘The Kerala Story’ kicks off in coastal state, CM Vijayan calls film ‘Sangh Propaganda’

A film titled ‘The Kerala Story’ has sparked a political storm with parties in the southern state voicing their strong views on the film which revolves around the stories of Hindu women in Kerala who were converted to Islam and victimized of trafficking to ISIS and other Islamic war zones in 2018-2019.

Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film claims to uncover the “truth” behind “thousands of innocent women” who have been “systematically converted, radicalized and their lives destroyed”.

The case even reached the Supreme Court which, however, refused to hear a plea asking for a stay of the film which should be released on Friday.

Here are the main points about “History of Kerala”:

• The Kerala Story’ is backed by Sunshine Pictures Private Limited, founded by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who is the producer, creative director and co-writer of the film. Writer-director Sudipto Sen’s debut films are “Aasma”, “Lucknow Times” and “The Last Monk”.
• According to the latest description of the trailer, shared on the official YouTube page of production banner Sunshine Pictures, “The Kerala Story” is “a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala…Thousands of women innocent women have been systematically converted, radicalized and their lives destroyed…”
• Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has slammed the creators of ‘The Kerala Story’, saying they are echoing Sangh Parivar’s propaganda of projecting the state as a center of religious extremism by raising the issue of ‘love jihad’ – a concept dismissed by courts, investigative agencies and the Home Office.
• The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala claimed the film was ‘sponsored by the BJP’ 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 has dismissed claims that the film is funded by the BJP, saying that as filmmakers they have ‘nothing to do with any political party’ and that anything said about the movie without watching it is “guesswork”.
• The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a plea seeking a stay on the release of ‘The Kerala Story’ on the grounds that it is a ‘worst kind of hate speech’ and ‘audiovisual propaganda’ .
• A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Kerala High Court on Tuesday against certain statements in the film’s teaser and trailer and requesting that the court annul the public display certificate given to the film by the council. of censorship. The High Court scheduled the case for hearing on May 5 and sought the Centre’s opinion.
• The BJP has given its backing to the controversial film, saying recruitment into the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Kerala cannot be denied and CM Pinarayi Vijayan was aware of the exact figures.
• Congress has urged the government of Kerala not to allow the screening of the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’.
• Congress leader and MP for Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor said Keralites have every right to claim that “Kerala’s history” is a “distortion of our reality”. However, he said he was not calling for the film to be banned because free speech does not cease to be valuable just because it can be misused.

(With PTI inputs)

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