The Kerala Story was released on May 5, 2023, in India, not in many theatres but definitely, controversially among many debates. Where Adah Sharma has been praised for her long waited for serious acting in the movie, Sudipto Sen (director) and Vipul Amrutlal Shah (producer) have been criticized for showcasing poorly researched facts. The Kerala Story review – the movie has experienced assorted emotions from its audience since its inception. Why? The story has touched the religious wire, especially Hindu(majorly) & Muslim with many unproven facts but in a dramatic light of palpitated emotions.
Where killing a person is butter and eating beef is cannibalism, creative people got to rack up their facts correctly because there are eyes, ears, and brains(!) out there who are open to judge but mind not. Moreover, Bollywood and/or other movie industries always make movies based on titanium facts. Right!? Let’s head on to the comprehensive review of The Kerala Story.
Why is The Kerala Story grappling with the limelight of today’s heated discussions among ordinary people and politicians too?
For that, let’s quickly have a succinct resume of the movie.
The Kerala Story Plot – Spoiler Free
The teaser of The Kerala Story was released on 3 November 2022, and it was quite self-explanatory. The teaser and then the trailer of The Kerala Story answered ‘What’, ‘How’, ‘Why’, and ‘Where’ in a very sweet, abbreviated manner. We knew what is coming before downloading The Kerala Story online.
It is the story of three Kerala girls Shalini, Nimah and Geethanjali and their journey of becoming victims of ISIS. The protagonist Shalini Unnikrishnan, played by Adah Sharma, a Muslim convert, reveals her horrific tale of being brainwashed, kidnapped and coerced by extremist groups. She was finally duped into joining ISIS and is currently imprisoned in Afghanistan as per factual reports. Geethanjali and Nimah were also used by the spawns of ISIS and ultimately met with horrific ends.
At the end of the movie, bites of the real victims’ families, including Nimah’s conversations and interviews have been shown to strengthen the movie.
Craps & Cracks – Overall Loopholes in The Kerala Story
- The first scene was devoid of acting skills, and it looked more like an interview instead of an interrogation after getting caught by Interpol as well as the Afghanistan Police. Well, this movie follows the litany of Bollywood, where the convict comprehensively shares his/her story at the time of high-level interrogation.
- In the second picture of Afghanistan, where the protest posters regarding Balochistan were shown, our protagonist was shown happily and with consent travelling with her husband. Because as she said later mentioned, she was brainwashed.
A GOOD PUNCH – The writer and director also showed the almost same culture of the Pashtun people where art is as revered as in India. In the movie, two women, whose husbands are allies of ISIS explained to Shalini aka Fatima that although they converted to Islam, they couldn’t shove aside their artistic culture. Isn’t it the same with Bangladesh where people still speak Bengali, wear saree, eat and think like Bongs? Our religion is just an outer construction of our culture.
The Muslim propagandists arrived in Afghanistan in the 7th century. Prior to that, there were several religions practised in that region – Zoroastrianism, Ancient Iranian religions, Buddhism and Hinduism. The people of the Hindu Kush mountain region denied Islamic domination until the 19th century. This discussion will happen soon in future!
- When Shalini remembered her home, a quiet, calm, and innocent picture of Kerala was shown. The adult – Shalini was making faces and baby tricks to the Kathakali dancer, whom she must have seen since her birth. She was seen wearing Jasmine flowers on her hair even in casuals and at home. Who does that?
It shows how Bollywood is still in the Yenna Rascala period!
- Shalini’s home culture was shown very strong with two strong-minded ladies governing the household. And if it was the reality, why it was not reflected in Shalini’s character? She was a too-good-to-be-true kind of victim who took an interest in every shallow religious gossip instead of scientific talks. The girls were aspired to be nurses, right!? This aroused my scepticism about whether they have passed any credible nurse exam or not.
An Emotional God Is A Weak God!!!
- When Shalini, Nimah and Geethanjali were abused in a mall during the daylight, there were many people who were just watching it happen. Is this so simple? People don’t speak when they’re confused and don’t know the whole story, but this was like an open book. First of all, no one uttered a word and then after their return, they started to believe (just like toddlers) that because of their religion and the freedom that they got from their religion, they received this abuse. And they started wearing hijabs, even when visiting their parents. The logic behind that was: If your God (Shiva) couldn’t save her wife (Sati) and cried, then how could he save you?
Freedom is not just wearing anything you want, it resides in questioning, thinking and debating the happenings in the real world. There were thousands of questions or statements that could have been asked but the girls chose to be silent creatures. Dumb as Flick.
To do domestic abuse, one doesn’t have to be a terrorist. The households with ‘normal family’ masks also hold dark secrets behind their doors and this has nothing to do with religion but self-morality and empathy.
- The gore scenes in The Kerala Story depict the lack of morality, domination of pathetic mentality and extremist mentality of a society; it happened centuries ago in the land of England, USA as well, but they evolved and now things happen under the veil of democracy, constitution and law.
Ever heard of news where people are murdering someone else because he is a Dalit or eating beef or dog; abusing a set of women because they are black, taunting and sometimes murdering a set of people who chose to love same-gender persons?
A Dilemma of Character & Blaming Game
- Geethanjali got addicted to drugs and send nudes to her boyfriend and obviously, got a threatening message of making it viral unless she accepts Islam and goes to Syria with him. After being poked several times by Geethanjali by then, he makes it viral. And she suicides. Well, she comes from an open-minded and well-cultured family, where open debates and individual freedom were practised. She didn’t even use her brain and took smooth interests in ludicrous talks of Asifa about hell. What the hell?
- The shocking scene was when cheated Geethanjali confronts her father and said, “Why you never told me about our rich culture and history instead of asking me to copy Western culture?” It was like, I’m complaining to my Subhash Chandra Bose, “why you went to Japan for support instead of asking Jawahar Lal Nehru?” Sounds lame, right?
- I thought Nimah is the only person in this movie who may have some brain, but NO! The most taunting scene was when she went on a blind date with a man recommended by Shalini. And the guy tried to convert on the very first day. Each & every stance of this scene was preposterously dumb. A blind date is a big no-no, particularly if the other person is recommended by a radicalized person.
- Shalini heard the horrific aftermath and what Nimah has gone through. Then she goes inside where something was written on the wall – “I shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve!!” And this full-grown adult went on thinking that this happened with Nimah because she chose a different path from Islam.
The makers beautifully made this line recited by a woman who was brutally raped by Islamic extremists, with tears in her eyes and Voila, that’s how you sell ‘anything’ in a country run by just emotions.
Movie, Politics & Full Entertainment – The Kerala Story Review
- The ex Kerala CM Oommen Chandi had said in the assembly that during the period of 2006-2012, 2667 people converted to Islam. There were no reports of forcible conversions, ergo, there was no strong policing of such happenings. But there were reports of the staggering growth of the Muslim population in Kerala. In 2021, Sen, citing ex Kerala CM Oommen Chandy, said every year approx. 2,800 to 3,200 girls were taking up Islam. He added, “Just calculate it for the following 10 years, and the number is around 32,000.
- BJP, RSS and our Indian PM Narendra Modi have supported the movie. And the Government of West Bengal banned The Kerala Story, fearing it may disrupt the harmony between the diverse religious groups.
Verdict – No Spoiler, The Kerala Story Review
After seeing The Kerala Story, the soul of Paul Joseph Goebbels must have committed suicide again!
The Kerala Story just like The Kashmir Files has been heavily labelled as a movie crafted to spread communal hatred. I strongly felt that The Kerala Story has been crafted with slipshod management with scenes such as Asifa brainwashing Shalini, Nimah and Geethanjali, which looked so inane. Calling it brainwashing would be an insult to human brains.
This type of movie can do irreversible damage and aggravate social hostility issues, especially in a country like India, which is so diverse that every state, district and household holds its deep antipathy towards something; be it government, caste, religion or social system.
Transparent communication is the best medicine that we must practice everywhere (probably not in the lobby). If you fear Love Jihad, extremist thoughts, gaslighting and etc., try to have open communication with your toddler from the start. Have a good education, healthy debate, set your ego and taboos aside and accept that anything can happen, especially if ignored. Religion doesn’t change your specie, ergo conversions cannot change what you’re and were from inside. And lastly, we should always know our history.
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