Chennai: Tamil Nadu intelligence services have warned the M.K. Stalin government of possible protests against the controversial Hindi movie The Kerala Story and resultant law and order problems, ThePrint has learnt — a development that comes days before the movie’s release.
According to a senior police officer, intelligence services have alerted the state’s home department as well as district superintendents of police and police commissioners about possible protests on the release of the film.
However, officials in the state’s Department of Information and Public Relations that ThePrint spoke to refused to comment on the issue.
The Kerala Story, scheduled for a release on 5 May, purportedly tells the story about Kerala women who joined the Islamic State. The film has been at the centre of a massive political row, with critics like Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan even calling it a “propaganda story”.
While the film’s trailer initially claimed it was based on the “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 women” who had purportedly joined the militant group Islamic State, the trailer on video sharing platform YouTube has been changed following massive backlash — it now claims to be based on “true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala.”
Directed by Sudipto Sen, the movie stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani in lead roles. It has received widespread criticism from various political parties and outfits in Kerala as well as Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to ThePrint, Nagapattinam MLA J. Mohamed Shanavas alias ‘Aloor’ Shanavas said that his party, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), will hold protests if the film is released in the state.
“Cinema is a powerful medium and creating a false narrative that will disrupt communal harmony will be opposed, and democratic protests will be conducted,” Shahnavas told ThePrint, adding that free speech should not be used as a tool for “divisive politics”.
“The BJP in Karnataka has already been attacking the Muslim community,” he said. “Movies of this kind will have a negative effect.”
Former Member of Parliament from Vellore and Tamil Nadu Waqf board chairman Abdul Rahman claimed the movie was deliberately aimed at sullying “the reputation, traditional and valuable culture of Indian Muslim people, especially Muslim women”.
“We strongly condemn such things,” he told ThePrint.
Malayalam actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Krishna Kumar, however, defended the movie, saying it comes with a strong message. Only political parties that engaged in “minority appeasement” were objecting to it, he claimed.
“The Kerala Story tells a story of how young women are being targeted by organisations like IS, where they are converted and radicalised,” he said. “We have to be thankful to the filmmakers for bringing such a sensitive story to the fore.”
ThePrint reached the movie’s director, Sudipto Sen, and producer Vipul Shah for their comments via phone and WhatsApp. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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The row over the movie
Critics of the movie accuse its makers of exaggerations and distortions, with several rivals of the BJP claiming that it promotes the agenda of the Sangh Parivar — a group of political and Hindu religious outfits that the party is part of.
Although the movie has received an ‘A’, or adults only, certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), there’s a rising chorus for the movie to be banned, with the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) leading such calls.
On Sunday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the film a “fake story” and a product of the “Sangh Parivar’s lie factory, adding that the numbers stated were not based on any evidence.
Such criticism has come from the Opposition Congress too — Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor took to social media Sunday to voice his thoughts, although he clarified later that he wasn’t calling for a ban on the movie.
“It may be your Kerala story. It is not our Kerala story,” he said.
“Let me stress, I am not calling for a ban on the film. Freedom of expression does not cease to be valuable just because it can be misused. But Keralites have every right to say loud & clear that this is a misrepresentation of our reality,” he said in another tweet Monday.
Meanwhile, amid the backlash, filmmakers made changes to the film’s trailer. On Tuesday, soon after the changes were noticed, Tharoor once again took to Twitter.
“The plot thickens. The filmmakers have updated the movie’s description on YouTube and changed ‘32,000 women’ to ‘3 women’… I rest my case,” he said in a tweet.
On 1 May, as the movie continued to polarise the masses, the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League, a Kerala-based political party, offered a reward of Rs 1 crore to anyone who could prove that 32,000 Kerala women had indeed joined the Islamic State. In retaliation, Hindu Seva Kendra founder Pratheesh Vishwanath offered a reward of Rs 10 crore to anyone who could prove that no Kerala woman had joined the IS.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Tuesday refused to entertain Islamic organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s petition asking for a ban on the movie. Instead, the apex court asked petitioners to approach the Kerala High Court.
Like Tharoor, Kerala Congress Youth Wing Vice-President K.S. Sabarinadhan said he wasn’t calling for a ban on the movie, which he said appeared to be “harping on a controversial notion, merely for a hyped-up theatrical run”.
“Kerala society has always rejected such partisan works of art and the same fate awaits The Kerala Story,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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