The Students Federation of India (SFI) unit at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has called for a protest on May 2 against the movie ‘The Kerala Story’. Calling the film an attempt to polarise society, the student organisation will protest against it at Sabarmati Dhaba in JNU at 4 pm on May 2.
It is to be noted that, ever since the teaser of the film was released, the ruling party in Kerala CPM and opposition Congress are joining hands to make sure the film, The Kerala Story is boycotted in the state. They are calling it an agenda by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
The movie is inspired by true events and shows how 32,000 non-muslim women were forcefully converted to Islam and were admitted to the terrorist outfit ISIS.
Kerala’s Culture Minister Saji Cherian has urged people to boycott the movie saying it aimed to show the state in bad light. He added, “People of all religions live in harmony here”.
“Kerala is a state which is known for communal harmony… This movie could be seen as an attempt by the Sangh Parivar to destroy the secular fabric of the state… This is a conspiracy to divide and create unrest in society,” Cherian said.
The much awaited film, The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani in the lead roles is set to be released on May 5. The film is directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s movie production house. The trailer made a buzz on social media as it claims that 32,000 women from Kerala were forcibly converted and allegedly recruited to the militant outfit ISIS.
In the film actress Adah Sharma is playing the role of Fathima Ba, a Hindu Malayali nurse, who is among the 32,000 women who went missing from Kerala and were then recruited to the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) after being forced to convert to Islam.
The film will be released on 5th May 2023 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam language.
The trailer opens with the line ‘Shalini Unnikrishnan, a Hindu from Kerala’ and shows Adah Sharma who plays the lead role of Shalini. The next shot shows her being held captive by two gun-laden women in uniforms, belonging to ISIS. The trailer also shows some Muslim men instigating others to get into relationships with women, and hand them over to them, showing how Hindu women are trapped in ‘Love Jihad’.
Further, it shows Adah Sharma’s religious conversion, wedding, and her being trafficked to Pakistan. It also shows Muslim women being manhandled, chained, and tortured.
In the clip Shalini tells the officers, “Rather than knowing when I joined ISIS, it’s more important to know why and how I joined ISIS, Sir.”
Vipul Amrutlal said, “The film is an amalgamation of years of research and true stories which have never been dared to be told before, it will uncover many hidden truths that have been hidden for long. It will uncover the dangerous threat radicalisation poses to the women of our nation and will create awareness about this conspiracy being hatched against India.”
“The film aims to become the voice of tens of thousands of women across the globe who have been indoctrinated and exploited for terrorism and other crimes,” added Vipul.
“The trailer of the Hindi film which appears to have been deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala was released last day. It is indicated from the trailer that this film is trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar, which has established itself as the centre of religious extremism in the land of secularism,” said Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
The film’s lead actress Adah Sharma has clarified that the film is not propaganda and is also not against any religion rather it is against terror organisations.
“Our film is about the girls who have been drugged, brainwashed, raped, human trafficked, forcefully impregnated, and then again raped, sometimes by multiple people also, and the child delivered by such women is taken away from them and they are turned into suicide bombers,” Adah Sharma said.
She also added that “when people call The Kerala Story a political agenda, propaganda, etc, are diverting the issue and trivializing this. Our film is about life and death.”
It is to be noted that, former Chief Minister of Kerala, VS Achuthanandan raised alarming questions on the communal problems of the State.
In one of his interviews in 2010, VS Achuthanandan said, “They (the ruling party) want to turn Kerala into a Muslim-majority state in 20 years. They are using money and other inducements to convert people to Islam. They even marry women from outside their community in order to increase the Muslim population.”
