Why is 'The Kerala Story' in the news?

The Kerala Story revolves around a group of Indian women who are converted to Islam and are made to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

'The Kerala Story' seems to be everywhere. At the cinemas, in social media hashtags, in the court of law, in headlines, and even in political speeches. The film seems to have divided the country into two - those vouching for it and those against it. While some are lauding the film for showing the truth, others are calling it false propaganda being used to spread hatred. Why though?

Here is the controversy around The Kerala Story explained:

The plot

The Kerala Story revolves around a group of Indian women who are converted to Islam and are made to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. The protagonist of the film is Shalini Unnikrishnan (Adah Sharma), a Hindu Malayali nurse who is by deceit converted to Islam thereby becoming Fathima Ba. She later goes on to join the terrorist group ISIS, and eventually ends up in an Afghan jail.

Based on a true story?

As per the film's description of its trailer, The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, is "a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala." It claims to be based on the four women from Kerala - Nimisha alias Fathima Isa, Merin alias Mirriam, Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha and Rafaella, who converted to Islam and went to Afghanistan with their husbands to join the Islamic State of Khorasan Province between 2016 and 2018. The interviews of these four women were published under the title ‘Khorasan Files: The Journey of Indian Islamic State Widows’ by StratNewsGlobal. It is noteworthy that as per their submission in the Kerala High Court, the producers of the film have added a disclaimer that the film is a fictionalised version of events.

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Right vs Left

The Kerala Story has been heavily backed by the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) during the Karnataka elections in May 2023. In fact, the film was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for uncovering a conspiracy. In Bangalore, BJP President J. P. Nadda and MP Tejasvi Surya held special screenings of the film and invited "young girl students" to watch it with them. The film has been declared tax-free in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on Facebook, “In the trailer of the movie, we could see the hoax that 32,000 women in Kerala had converted and became members of the Islamic State. This bogus story is a product of the Sangh Parivar’s factory of lies. Justifying those who use cinema only to create division using the argument of freedom of expression is not right. Freedom of expression is not a licence to communalise this country, spread lies and divide people.”

The film has been banned in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Claims vs Facts

At first the film claimed that approximately 32000 women from Kerala went missing after they were converted to Islam and recruited by the IS. Director Sudipto Sen claimed that he has evidence for this claim. However, he has not publicly shared any evidence yet. When questioned in the Kerala High Court, the producers of the film agreed to remove the teaser from social media that states the 32000 figure. The number has now been changed to three.

According to a US State Department report titled ‘Country Reports on Terrorism 2020: India’, “There were 66 known Indian-origin fighters affiliated with ISIS, as of November” (2020). Also, in 2019, then Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy informed the Parliament that “the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the state police forces have registered cases against ISIS operatives and sympathisers, and have arrested 155 accused from across the country so far.”

While a 2019 report by the Observer Research Foundation said, "The majority of India’s IS recruits came from Kerala, with the state accounting for “40 of the 180 to 200 cases” across the country." However, it also mentions, “India was thought of by analysts to be fertile ground for the recruitment of foreign fighters for the Islamic State (IS). The country, however, has proven such analysts wrong by having only a handful of pro-IS cases so far.”

The film is, thus, receiving flak for generalising and sensationalising individual cases spreading fear animosity.

Mixed response

Released on May 5, the film has already earned more than Rs. 80 crores in a time when most Indian movies are not earning well. However, it is receiving mixed response from the public as well as the critics. People are not only divided about the ideologies, they are divided about the film's cinematic value as well. While Adah Sharma is unanimously receiving praise for her acting, the film is receiving poor reviews when it comes to script and dialogues. It is to be seen whether the film will make people aware of radicalisation or divide people's sentiments.