The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma, is set to be released on May 5 and the trailer of the film is now out. The film, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s movie, courted controversy with its claim that 32,000 women from Kerala were forcibly converted and allegedly recruited to the militant outfit ISIS.
The trailer opens with the line ‘Shalini Unnikrishnan, a Hindu from Kerala’ and shows Adah Sharma who plays the lead role of Shalini, happy and carefree. The next shot shows her being held captive by two gun-laden women in uniforms, belonging to ISIS. The trailer also shows some Muslim men instigating others to get into relationships with women, and hand them over to them. Further, it shows Adah Sharma’s religious conversion, wedding, and her being trafficked to Pakistan. It also shows Muslim women being manhandled, chained, and tortured.
The teaser of the movie was released on November 2 last year and claimed that the film unearths what went behind the ‘missing’ of 32,000 women in the state of Kerala. “A dangerous game is on in Kerala to convert normal girls to dangerous terrorists, that too in front of everyone’s eyes,” Adah Sharma said in the teaser. Alt News later found that the filmmaker Sudipto Sen had misquoted two former Kerala chief ministers, Oommen Chandy and VS Achuthanandan, while attempting to give his take on the state of affairs in Kerala an air of credibility.
Days after the release of the teaser, a Tamil Nadu journalist petitioned the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Kerala Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, requesting the Board to place a ban on the film unless director Sudipto Sen and asking producer Vipul Amrutal Shah submit documents confirming the veracity of the information presented in the teaser.
The teaser also saw criticisms from various quarters, including from the Congress leader VD Satheesan who sought the film to be banned for spreading misinformation.
Watch the trailer here: