The Kerala Story row: The mise-en-scene of propaganda meets probity

NOT CURTAINS YET: Facing accusations of a controlled narrative, The Kerala Story is unlikely to see 'The End' any time soon. And this is just the trailer...

On Friday, addressing a groundswell of supporters at Ballari in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a thinly veiled endorsement of a Hindi movie that has opened old fault lines in Pinarayi Vijayan’s state.

The Kerala Story has kicked up a political maelstrom in the state over its contention that thousands of women from other faiths were converted to Islam and recruited for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to operate in countries like Syria and Afghanistan.

While the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed this a planned propaganda against the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said this was a real threat the state had been facing for some time.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cited it as an attempt to “humiliate the state in front of the world”. Clearing the air on its release in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and a possible ban, the Kerala High Court on Friday refused to stay the release of the movie.

“What is against Islam? There is no allegation against the religion. The allegation is against ISIS,” the Bench observed.

However, the movie is still a burning topic in the state and neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

“The Kerala Story is based on a terror conspiracy. It shows the ugly truth of terrorism and exposes terrorist machinations. The Congress is opposing the film made on terrorism and standing with terror tendencies. Congress has shielded terrorism for vote-bank politics,” Modi said about the movie.

The main points the Congress leaders from Kerala are highlighting are the descriptor of the movie trailer indicating 32,000 women from Kerala had joined ISIS and the movie indicating the presence of love jihad in the state.

Love jihad is an alleged conspiracy theory accusing Muslim men of wooing women of other faiths and converting them to Islam.

“It is an insult to Kerala and the women of the state. The 32,000 they are quoting is a blunder. More than that, in 2018, the National Investigation Agency said in the Supreme Court that there was not a shred of evidence of love jihad in the state. There are a lot of inter-religious marriages happening in the state, but to declare them as conversions to make them join ISIS is barefaced propaganda,” senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan told Business Standard.

In Tamil Nadu, too, the movie sparked controversy, with Muslim outfits protesting and shows being held with police security across the state.

Interestingly, a media report quoting the Union home ministry claims that from 2014 onwards, only 62 people had joined the terror outfit from India, suggesting the 32,000 number was far from the truth.

According to a report by the Australian Parliament, there are only about 40,000 foreigners in ISIS from 80 countries, showing the number projected by the movie makers is way off the mark.

“This film is against the Muslims but ISIS. It is a reality that ISIS recruitment happened in India. Those supporting Muslim terror outfits are standing against the movie. If there are further problems, Hindus, Christians and those Muslims who support the truth will stand against it,” BJP state President K Surendran told Business Standard.

Those supporting the movie are highlighting the cases of four women — Nimisha alias Fathima Isa, Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha, Reffeala, and Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam — who ended up in a prison in Afghanistan after they accompanied their husbands to join the Islamic State — Khorasan Province.

“Our point is that the BJP is trying to foment hatred and split the minority votes in the state by abetting a Muslim-Christian fracture,” added Satheesan.  

Well, the result of the controversy is in its box-office collection with the Sudipto Sen movie getting a good initial collection over the weekend.

According to trade analyst Manobala Vijayabalan, The Kerala Story earned Rs 8.54 crore on Friday itself, becoming one of the top five Hindi movies with better openings in 2023, even outshining the likes of Akshay Kumar’s Selfiee and Kartik Aaryan’s Shehzada.