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The Kerala Story

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The Kerala Story
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySudipto Sen
Written by
  • Suryapal Singh
  • Sudipto Sen
  • Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Produced byVipul Amrutlal Shah
Starring
CinematographyPrasantanu Mohapatra
Edited bySanjay Sharma
Music by
  • Viresh Sreevalsa
  • Bishakh Jyoti
Production
company
Sunshine Pictures[1]
Release date
  • 5 May 2023 (2023-05-05)
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Box officeest.₹8.03 crore[2]

The Kerala Story is an Indian Hindi-language film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah.[1] The plot follows the story of a group of women from Kerala who converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The film has been based on claiming that thousands of women from Kerala were being converted to Islam and recruited into ISIS.[3][4] Political parties in Kerala allege it promotes the Sangh Parivar's agenda.[5]

The film stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani. It was released on 5 May 2023.[6]

Plot

Cast

Premise and factual accuracy

The Kerala Story is captioned as being based on a real-life incident, while the reliability of the statistics shown are not backed by any real evidence.[4][3][8]

The teaser, released on 3 November 2022,[9] featured Adah Sharma playing the character of Fathima Ba — a Hindu Malayali nurse — who had converted to Islam and joined the ISIS, before ending up in an Afghan jail.[8] She identifies to be one of the 32,000 girls, from the Hindu and Christian communities, who are missing from Kerala and have been recruited to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) after being converted to Islam. The claimed figures are widely inaccurate, being based on mistranslations, misquotes and extrapolations from misrepresentations of unrelated statistics.[3]

The Observer Research Foundation in a 2019 report notes that about 60 to 70 individuals had joined ISIS from Kerala between 2014 and 2018.[10] According to Indian government figures not more than a total of 100 – 200 Indians had joined the organization over the years, one of the smallest figures of any country with a substantial Muslim population. The US Department of State in its 2020 report on terrorism had documented that there were a total of 66 individuals from India who were affiliated with ISIS at that time.[3]

The events portrayed in the film seem to be inspired by four women from Kerala who converted to Islam and traveled with their husbands to Afghanistan to join ISIS between 2016 and 2018.[4] They were part of a 21-member group from Kerala to join ISIS in 2016, remain incarcerated in Afghanistan since surrendering in 2019.[11]

Opposition

Both Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) — the only two parties to have governed the state since Independence — have objected to the release of the film for propagating communal misinformation. They have further alleged that the filmmakers are promoting the agenda of the Sangh Parivar of defaming Kerala and propagating the idea of "love jihad",[8][12][13] a Hindutva conspiracy theory.[17] Responding to the allegations, producer Shah has said that "nothing we say will be without evidence" and that Sen had conducted four years of research for the film.[18]

After a Tamil Nadu-based journalist filed a complaint with the Kerala chief minister, by stating that false propaganda is being done against Kerala and communal harmony is being destroyed, Kerala state police chief Anil Kant directed the Thiruvananthapuram City Police to register a case based on a report by hi-tech crime inquiry cell of Kerala Police.[19][20] However, based on legal counsel's advice, as of 15 November 2022, an FIR was not filed.[21] As of 9 November 2022, the film is subject to an investigation.[4]

On the day of the release of the film, the Kerala High Court refused to stay the release of the film. It said that the allegations in the film were about ISIS, and not a particular religion. Previously, the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court had also rejected similar applications.[22] The makers agreed to take down the teaser which created the controversial claim that 32,000 girls were recruited in ISIS.[23][22]

Production and release

The film was produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who is also the creative director of the film.[1] It was released in theatres on 5 May 2023.[24]

Reception

Box office

On its opening day, the film grossed ₹8.03 crore in India, surpassing the earnings of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which also released on the same day, with a total of ₹7 crore.[25] This made the film the fifth highest opener in India for 2023.[26]

Critical reception

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "'The Kerala Story', starring Adah Sharma, gets release date". The Hindu. PTI. 24 April 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  2. ^ "The Kerala Story Box Office Collection". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 6 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c d "'32000 Kerala women in ISIS': Misquotes, flawed math, imaginary figures behind filmmaker's claim". Alt News. 8 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (9 November 2022). "Indian police investigating film that portrays Kerala as Islamic terrorism hub". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Congress urges state not to give screening permission for film 'The Kerala Story'". Hindustan Times. 28 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  6. ^ Nishad, Sneha Singh (26 April 2023). "'The Kerala Story' trailer out: Adah Sharma headlines a hard-hitting, thought-provoking story". Mid-Day. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  7. ^ "The Kerala Story release date, OTT, trailer, director, cast, plot - all you may want to know". The Economic Times. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "The Kerala Story: Film on India women in Islamic State sparks row". BBC News. 10 November 2022.
  9. ^ "The Kerala Story teaser out". Cinema Express. 3 November 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  10. ^ Taneja, Kabir; Sinan Siyech, Mohammed (15 October 2019). "The Islamic State in India's Kerala: A Primer".
  11. ^ Khan, Fatima (9 September 2021). "Taliban back, desperate Kerala families hope couples who fled to Afghanistan for ISIS can return". ThePrint.
  12. ^ "'The Kerala Story' in the dock". Deccan Herald. 9 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Cong, DYFI, IUML youth wing demand ban on screening of 'The Kerala Story'". The Indian Express. 28 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  14. ^ Strohl, David James (11 October 2018). "Love jihad in India's moral imaginaries: religion, kinship, and citizenship in late liberalism". Contemporary South Asia. 27 (1). Routledge: 27–39. doi:10.1080/09584935.2018.1528209. ISSN 0958-4935. S2CID 149838857. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  15. ^ Sarkar, Tanika (1 July 2018). "Is Love without Borders Possible?". Feminist Review. 119 (1): 7–19. doi:10.1057/s41305-018-0120-0. ISSN 0141-7789. S2CID 149827310. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2020 – via SAGE Journals.
  16. ^ Waikar, Prashant (2018). "Reading Islamophobia in Hindutva: An Analysis of Narendra Modi's Political Discourse". Islamophobia Studies Journal. 4 (2): 161–180. doi:10.13169/islastudj.4.2.0161. ISSN 2325-8381. JSTOR 10.13169/islastudj.4.2.0161. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021 – via JSTOR.
  17. ^ [14]: 4 [15][16]
  18. ^ "Vipul Shah on The Kerala Story criticism: 'We are making a film on a big tragedy, nothing will be without evidence'". Hindustan Times. 26 December 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  19. ^ "State Police Chief orders FIR on complaint against The Kerala Story". The Hindu. PTI. 9 November 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  20. ^ "കേരളത്തിനെതിരേ വിദ്വേഷ പ്രചരണം; 'ദ കേരള സ്റ്റോറി' ട്രെയ്‌ലറിനെതിരേ വ്യാപക പ്രതിഷേധം". Mathrubhumi. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  21. ^ Athimuthu, Soundarya (9 November 2022). "'The Kerala Story' Teaser Row: DGP Ordered To Register FIR; Congress Seeks Ban". TheQuint. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  22. ^ a b ""There are umpteen movies depicting Hindu sanyasis as rapists": Kerala High Court refuses to stay release of The Kerala Story".
  23. ^ "The Kerala Story producer agrees to remove '32,000 women converted' from teaser". India Today. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  24. ^ "Controversial film The Kerala Story to be released on May 5, trailer out". The News Minute. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  25. ^ Tuteja, Joginder (6 May 2023). "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Box Office: Survives steep competition from Bollywood's The Kerala Story on Day 1". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  26. ^ Entertainment Desk (6 May 2023). "The Kerala Story box office collection Day 1: Sudipto Sen's film gets better opening than Selfiee, Shehzada, Kashmir Files; earns Rs 8.03 cr". The Indian Express. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
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