- Movie Name:The Kerala Story
- Critics Rating: 1.5 / 5
- Release Date: MAY 05, 2023
- Director: Sudipto Sen
- Genre: Drama
The Kerala Story picks up a communal agenda and a strong topic to discuss but in the most disturbing way. The film is centered around the alleged radicalisation and conversion of young Hindu women to Islam in Kerala, after which they are forced to join ISIS and turn into suicide bombers or sex slaves, which isn’t less than eye-opening. The film also strikes a conversation about how communism and religion are used to instill fear in people and how they're brainwashed. The Kerala Story has theories by Karl Marx and it questions the Ramayana, which leads to a debate on religion, and thus, all the controversy and backlashes the film has been facing
The Kerala Story is about three girls whose lives are destroyed by ISIS. It begins in the interrogation room where Adah Sharma is seen revealing details of her horrific and tragic past and why she landed up there. Her backstory revolves around four nursing college students. The story is narrated from the perspective of Shalini, where she speaks about her roommates Gitanjali (Siddhi Idnani), Nimah (Yogita Bihani), and Asifa (Sonia Balani).
Shalini Unnikrishnan aka Fatima (Adah Sharma), a Hindu from Kerala and a nursing student, is manipulated by Islamic vanguards, who convert her into an ISIS terrorist. Also, the film highlights 'Love Jihad' propaganda, where Muslim men manipulate Hindu girls to convert to Islam and abandon their families. Shalini's roommate Asifa has a secret agenda to expose and convert her roommates to Islam.
With multiple close-up shots of Shalini during her interrogation to enforce how tragic her life has been, the film demands sympathy and empathy. It unravels the statistics attached to the whole nexus between the misinformed and converted women of Kerala and the people who support terrorism and send converted women across Syria via Pakistan and Afghanistan, who suffer the pain of either being a sex slave or suicide bomber. There's a particular scene where Fatima (aka Shalini) is raped by her own husband despite being pregnant.
Yogita Bihani aka Nimah, the catholic girl who doesn’t fall into this trap, disappears midway and leaves us questioning about her whereabouts. However, she returns later with an agenda to save such young girls after eventually falling victim to the same. She steals the show in the climax and delivers a gut-wrenching monologue. Since the makers of The Kerala Story claim that it is inspired by true events, the film shows both the powerful and the powerless possessing the same emotional fragility.
To conclude, The Kerala Story asks for sympathy for Shalini but gets too melodramatic and feels forced. Many scenes appear to be purely manipulative and leave us questioning our own religious beliefs; be it Hinduism or Islam. Bringing the reality of three-real life victims of 'Love Jihaad' to the screen was a tough task and the makers are only halfway successful to deliver. A few things seem too unreasonable in the film. While director Sudipto Sen tries to strike a balance between pain, brutality and religion, he somewhere lacks. An abrupt ending shows a fault in our Intelligence Bureau and defence system. The subject and direction lack the required punch. It isn't convincing enough to create that uncomfortable stir that is required for a story this horrific and brutal.
