'It may be 'your' Kerala story; it is not 'our' Kerala story...' Shashi Tharoor slams Adah Sharma-starrer film

It may be 'your' Kerala story; it is not 'our' Kerala story... that is how Congress MP Shashi Tharoor reacted about the controversial film starring Adah Sharma, on Twitter. Tharoor is the latest political leader from Kerala to slam the movie for portraying the state as a hotbed of religious extremism.

Tharoor's stand is in line with the Congress view that the government should not give permission to screen the controversial movie as it is aimed at creating "communal divisions in society through false claims". 

'The Kerala Story' is due to hit the screens on May 5. According to the filmmakers, the movie "unearths" the events behind the disappearance of "approximately 32,000 women" who allegedly got converted, radicalised and deployed in terror missions in India and across the world. 

There have been other voices of protest against the movie within Kerala with state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accusing the filmmakers of taking up the Sangh Parivar propaganda of projecting the state as a centre of religious extremism by raising the issue of 'love jihad'.

Watch the film's trailer below

Vijayan also said the trailer of the Hindi film, at first glance, appears to be "deliberately produced" with the alleged aim of creating communal polarisation and spreading hate propaganda against the state. 

He said despite the issue of 'love jihad' being rejected by probe agencies, courts and the MHA, it was being raised in connection with Kerala as the main premise of the film only to humiliate the state in front of the world.

The chief minister, in a statement, said such propaganda films and the alienation of Muslims depicted in them should be viewed in the context of Sangh Parivar's efforts to gain political advantage in Kerala. 

"In the trailer of the movie, we see a hoax that 32,000 women in Kerala were converted and became members of the Islamic State. This bogus story is a product of the Sangh Parivar's lie factory," Vijayan said in his statement. 

The BJP, on the other hand, questioned how claims of religious terrorism being strong in Kerala can be interpreted as hate propaganda against the state. 

BJP state president K Surendran, in a Facebook post against the CM's statement, claimed that it was former State Police Chief Loknath Behra, who was allegedly close to the Left party, who said presence of terrorist forces was strong in Kerala.

He also termed as "double standards" the Kerala CM and ruling CPI(M) stand that freedom of speech and expression cannot be a justification for using cinema to spread sectarianism in the state and create divisions.

"Freedom of expression is not a license to spread lies, communalise the society, and divide the people," the chief minister said earlier in the day. 

'The Kerala Story' is backed by Sunshine Pictures Private Limited, founded by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who serves as the producer, creative director and co-writer on the film. The film's writer-director Sudipto Sen's earlier movies are 'Aasma', 'Lucknow Times' and 'The Last Monk.' 

With Agency Inputs