Well, here’s a controversial one: a Hindi-language Indian film about a female Muslim convert who is ultimately radicalised and joins ISIS, only to confront the soul-searing horrors that course of action entails. However, it’s been dismissed as blatant propaganda in some corners, and been the subject of several legal actions and the odd outright banning. Curious? The Kerala Story is in cinemas now.
Directed by Sudipto Sen, and (obviously) set in the Indian state of Kerala, The Kerala Story follows nursing student Shalini Unnikrishnan (Adah Sharma) who, along with her roommates, Nimah (Yogita Bihani) and Geetanjali (Siddhi Idnani), is seduced into Islam by their fourth roommate, Asifa (Sonia Balani).
It isn’t long before Shalini finds herself in the ISIS camps of Afghanistan, faced with being used as sex slave or a suicide bomber.
The Kerala Story purports to tell the untold story of some 32,000 women in Kerala who have suffered similar experiences. However, reliable sources peg the number as closer to three, prompting the filmmakers to remove the higher number from the film’s promotional material. Indeed, pundits have noted that The Kerala Story seems to be another iteration of the “love jihad” conspiracy theory, which claims that militant Islamists are engaged in a coordinated effort to seduce Hindu women into conversion in an act of demographic warfare. It has been widely debunked.
Still, India’s hyper-conservative ruling party, the BJP, have praised the film and even used it for political messaging, while the film enjoys tax-free status in BJP-controlled states, so somebody likes it. It’s also done incredible numbers at the Indian box office, especially for a low-budget film with no notable big names attached.
Is The Kerala Story a finger-on-the-pulse expose of an unheralded campaign against Hindu women or a work of unmitigated and hateful propaganda? You be the judge!
