Another Indian film with Propaganda against Muslims to release
Another Bollywood propaganda film has made headlines across the border, following The Kashmir Files. According to its description, The Kerala Story tells the story of “three young girls from different parts of Kerala who have been systematically converted, radicalised, and their lives destroyed.”
The trailer’s absurdity
In a three-minute trailer, we meet three Hindu women from Kerala who were allegedly ‘brainwashed’ by their Muslim flat mate before joining the militant Islamic State. The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, could not be further from the truth, according to several Indian media outlets and politicians. The film has also received criticism from the state government, critics, Indian media, and many social media users.
It is produced by Vipul Amrutul Shah. The film stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has already expressed his disapproval of Sen’s Kerala Story. According to Hindustan Times, Tharoor was countered by his old post where he claimed that he was approached by three Kerala mothers who feared their daughters were radicalised.
Kerala Govt and Indian politicians have condemned the film.
As Tharoor faced questions as to why he has objections to the movie based on the same subject, the Indian politician said he was aware of four cases which are a far cry from the 32,000 that the Kerala Story makers claimed. “Many are spreading this 2021 tweet of mine as if it undermines my present objections to the trailer & publicity for “The Kerala Story”. Yes, I was approached then by three Kerala mothers and was aware of a fourth, and I was open about my concerns about their daughters’ radicalisation,” he said.
Many are spreading this 2021 tweet of mine as if it undermines my present objections to the trailer & publicity for "The Kerala Story". Yes, I was approached then by three Kerala mothers and was aware of a fourth, and I was open about my concerns about their daughters'… https://t.co/R8Vn1RsfpU
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 2, 2023
“But four cases are a far cry from the 32,000 that the filmmakers are alleging. If there really were so many Islamic State female members from Kerala, that would mean double the number when you count their husbands, whereas even Western intelligence sources say the number of all Indians in the Islamic State does not approach three figures. This gross exaggeration and distortion of the Kerala reality is what I am objecting to,” Tharoor commented.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the movie is to further India’s ruling party’s propaganda [against Muslims]. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Vijayan said that the purpose of the film was to demonise Kerala and to divide the state along racial lines.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=765432618263897&set=a.527373302069831&type=3
“From the trailer of the movie, it can be gathered that the movie has taken up the Sangh Parivar propaganda that positions an uncompromisingly secular land like Kerala as a hotbed of terrorists,” he wrote. He also went on to say, “The Parivar’s political designs have not worked in Kerala as it has in other parts of the country. That is why they are trying to get their agenda of divisive policies into Kerala through fake narratives”.
Court move
According to The Indian Express, the Supreme Court refused to hear a petition seeking a stay of execution for the film on the grounds that it is a “worst kind of hate speech” and “audio-visual propaganda.”
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Nizam Pasha told the Supreme Court’s bench, which included Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna, that the trailer for the film, which is set to be released on Friday, has received 16 million views. “This movie is the worst kind of hate speech,” Pasha said. It is entirely audio-visual propaganda.”
The bench, in response to the plea, said, “There are varieties of hate speeches. This film has got certification and has been cleared by the board. It’s not like a person getting on the podium and starts giving an uncontrolled speech. If you want to challenge the release of the movie, you should challenge the certification and through the appropriate forum”.
The plea which was filed said, “The movie is clearly aimed at spreading hatred and enmity between different sections of society in India. The message the movie imparts is that non-Muslim young women are being lured into converting to Islam by their classmates and subsequently, they are trafficked to West Asia where they are forced to join terrorist organisations.”
The plea added, “The movie demeans the entire Muslim community and it will result in endangering the lives and livelihoods of the petitioners and the entire Muslim community, and this is a direct infringement under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.”
“The movie gives the impression that apart from extremist clerics who radicalise people, ordinary Muslim youngsters, their classmates, also play an instrumental role in luring non-Muslims and radicalising them by posing as friendly and good-natured people, in accordance with instructions given by extremist scholars,” said the plea.
“The movie promotes the view that love-jihad is being used to lure non-Muslim women into converting to Islam and also joining Islamic State. However, an investigation by the state police carried out in 2009 revealed that there was no evidence of love-jihad in Kerala.”
Discrediting the story
Consequently, the makers of the movie updated the description on YouTube and changed ‘32,000 women’ to ‘three women’. Earlier, the description said the movie is about the “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala’. Now it says, “A spine-chilling, never told before the true story – revealing a dangerous conspiracy that has been hatched against India. The Kerala Story is a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala.”
On the change of the description of the movie, Film’s producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah told PTI that the film is about three women, though the makers stand by the number of 32,000.
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