'The Kerala Story' controversy explained | Questioning and facts

The film centers around forced religious conversion and reportedly claims that approximately 32,000 women in Kerala were converted to Islam and many were taken to ISIS-ruled Syria when the terror group was at the peak of its power.

Following the release of the film's trailer, a petition was filed at the Supreme Court seeking a stay on its release on grounds of "worst kind of hate speech" and "audio-visual propaganda".

The Supreme Court refused to entertain the request, with the bench saying, "There are varieties of hate speeches. This film has got certification and has been cleared by the board."

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the makers of the film, terming it as "propaganda" by "the Sangh parivar".

Following criticism, the film's teaser on YouTube which initially read as "heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala..." was toned down to "true stories of three young girls from Kerala."

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor accused the film's makers of indulging in "gross exaggeration" and "distortion" of the state's reality.

Mr Tharoor put out a tweet offering ₹ 1 crore to anyone who can prove that 32,000 women in Kerala were allegedly forced to convert to Islam.

Director of the film Sudipto Sen and producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah insist that 'The Kerala Story' is based on true events.

PM Narendra Modi lauded the film and told that it tried to expose the new form of terrorism in the society. “Terrorism has taken a new form now.