What’s the controversy behind ‘The Kerala Story’?

It’s been a week since the hashtag of the Indian movie ‘The Kerala Story’ has been trending on Twitter.

The social media users cannot ignore the fact that how the plea of releasing a controversial movie which is expected to release on May 5, was ignored by the Indian Supreme Court as it refused to intervene in the matter seeking a stay on the release of the controversial movie in theatres. 

The movie, whose trailer has also been removed from the internet has sparked a row of controversies before its release. Directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, ‘The Kerala Story’, puts the spotlight on forced conversion and radicalisation of women in India.

Movie’s plot

The film’s plot follows the story of a group of women from Kerala who are converted to Islam (through force or deceit) and go on to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The film centres around forced religious conversions in Kerala.  The film claims to be based on real events with its caption saying ‘Uncovering the truth that was kept hidden’.

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Controversy

Here are a few points mentioned that explain the controversy behind the unreleased movie:

• According to the Indian media, the film claims that about 32,000 women are missing in Kerala and were converted to Islam.
• These women are ready to be used for terrorist activities in India and other countries of the world after converting to Islam.
• According to an Indian channel, Kerala Chief Minister accused the film’s producers of promoting ‘Sangh Parivar propaganda’, which aims to use ‘love jihad’ to inflame the state of Kerala with religious extremism.
• Indian politician Shahi Tharoor put out a tweet offering ₹ 1 crore to anyone who can prove that 32,000 women in Kerala were allegedly forced to convert to Islam.
• Following criticism, the film’s teaser on YouTube which initially read as “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala…” was toned down to “true stories of three young girls from Kerala.”

How accurate are the claims?

The film claims to be based on the story of four women who converted to Islam and travelled with their husbands to Afghanistan to join ISIS between 2016 and 2018. They are currently incarcerated in an Afghan prison.

In December 2019, interviews of four women from Kerala – Nimisha alias Fathima Isa, Merin alias Mirriam, Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha and Rafaella – were published under the title ‘Khorasan Files: The Journey of Indian Islamic State Widows’ by the website StratNewsGlobal.