The movie – ‘The Kerala story’ has been involved in a controversy from the date of release of its teaser in November 2022 till now which said that almost 32,000 women were recruited to ISIS from the Kerala state after the forced conversions. But the protest started only after the release of the movie trailer on 26 April.
The Kerala High Court didn’t agree to hold the release of the movie which was supposed to screen in the movie theaters and Malls from 5 May. But, the creators agreed to remove the content from all their social media, which said that 32,000 women from Kerala who were converted as Muslim were recruited by ISIS.
The bench consisting of Justice Sophy Thomas and Justice N. Nagaresh watched the movie trailer and they said that there is nothing hurtful and offensive about any particular section of people in this video. Justice Nagaresh stated that there aren’t any accusations related to any religion except for the ISIS organization.
Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala criticized the creators of the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ stating that the film has been created only to spread hatred and publicity along with the communal polarization against the state. He also said that despite objections to ‘love jihad’ by the Courts, Home Ministry and probe agencies, this situation has been created only to humiliate Kerala in front of the whole universe.
Adah Sharma, Sonia Balani, Yogita Bihani and Siddhi Idnani are the stars being filmed in this movie.
The release of trailers arised many debates and criticisms in the social media where, many people declared that this story is completely counterfeited, and few claimed that the story highlights only the ignored portion of the forced conversions in Kerala.
The storyline of the movie is a real story of a group of girls who were pressured to convert into Muslim and join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The actor Adah Sharma acted as Fathima Ba, a Hindu Malayali nurse forced to convert into Islam and was later recruited by ISIS, who was then identified as one of those 32,000 women from Hindu and Christian community and was recruited by ISIS after forceful conversion.
The SC observed that the producers have invested huge money into the movie and all the actors have played their role, but now, it is in the hands of the society to make a decision whether the film is up to the mark or not up to their expectations.
