The Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 2 refused to consider a plea challenging the release of the film The Kerala Story. The film, which is slated for release on May 5, is based on alleged religious conversion of women in Kerala, to be taken to Afghanistan to join the terrorist organisation ISIS. An interlocutory application seeking a stay on the film’s theatrical release referred to The Kerala Story as the "worst kind of hate-speech" and "audio-visual propaganda".
Advocates Kapil Sibal and Nizam Pasha noted that the trailer of the film has already garnered millions of views on YouTube. The plea was heard by a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna, who said that the film has already been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), LiveLaw reported. They said that a film was not the same as a person on a podium making a hate speech, and advised the petitioners to challenge the certification from CBFC instead.
The petitioners were also asked to move the High Court first, but Advocate Pasha pointed out that there was no time for it, according to PTI. However, the court dismissed it as valid grounds for approaching the Supreme Court first.
Ever since the teaser, and later the trailer of The Kerala Story were released, the film has been a topic of controversy. The teaser, released in November last year, made tall claims of basing the film on real incidents. It quoted a huge number of women – 32,000 of them – allegedly forced to convert to Islam in Kerala, all to be taken to join terrorist camps in Syria and Yemen.
Many observers, as well as politicians from Kerala, have called out the makers for misrepresentation of facts. There have also been calls for a ban on the film’s screening by politicians in Kerala from the ruling and opposition parties. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the movie an attempt at propaganda by the Sangh Parivar, to paint a poor picture of Kerala, and spread divisive politics in the state.
The film has received an A certificate from the CBFC, after a few scenes were deleted. Directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film stars Adah Sharma in one of the lead roles.