Based on actual events, The Kerala Story uncovers the harrowing experiences of Hindu and Christian girls trapped in love jihad and forced into ISIS terrorist ranks..
The upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story’ portrays the heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of Hindu and Christian girls in Kerala who were first trapped into “love jihad” by Muslims in Kerala and later sent to Iraq and Syria to become ISIS terrorists. The film stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani in the lead roles and is set to release on May 5 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam language.
The film, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, is based on actual events that shocked Kerala, narrating the story of 32,000 women from Kerala who were radicalized to join the ISIS terrorist ranks. Many of these women were converted to Islam from Hinduism and Christianity with the motive of sending them to terrorist organizations.
The trailer of ‘The Kerala Story’ was released on April 26 and is a dramatic representation of the brutal reality of how innocent girls were systematically trapped and converted to Islam before being trafficked to ISIS in middle eastern countries. The trailer opens with a scene of the picturesque terrain of Kerala and establishes Shalini Unnikrishnan – the lead character played by Adah Sharma. Shalini, an ISIS bride from Kerala, tells officers interrogating her, “Rather than knowing when I joined ISIS, it’s more important to know why and how I joined ISIS, Sir.”
The trailer then shows how innocent Hindu girls are systematically trapped in love jihad and converted to Islam. The film depicts how the toolkit of systematically trapping and converting non-Muslim girls includes insulting Hindu and Christian deities, glorifying the burkha and hijab as the shield saving a woman’s dignity, brainwashing them that no one except Allah can be worshipped, impregnating non-Muslim girls so that they are forced to marry the Muslims who impregnated them to avoid facing the social stigma. The role of Muslim clerics in the radicalization process is also clearly highlighted in it.
As shown in the trailer, the girls converted through this modus operandi are then trafficked to ISIS in middle eastern countries under the pretext of getting jobs or directly brainwashing them for jihad. As a result, the converted girls from Kerala were used by terrorists for various terror activities and also as sex slaves. ‘The Kerala Story’ presents these heinous acts as Shalini Unnikrishnan unfolds her story in front of the investigating officers.
‘The Kerala Story’ is a powerful and important film that portrays the pain of 32,000 such converted Muslim women from Kerala who were sent to ISIS as terrorists only to get buried in the deserts of Yemen and Syria. The increasing radicalization in the Indian southern state because of the activities of Islamist organizations like the Popular Front of India and its other allied outfits is responsible for this trafficking of girls to the gulf
Despite promising an authentic and unbiased portrayal, the film faces opposition. It demands a ban from some political leaders and journalists who claim that it spreads misinformation and are fearful of angering Muslims. Congress leader and opposition leader in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan demanded a ban on the movie when its teaser was released in November 2022, calling it a clear case of misinformation.
The filmmakers insist that it is a truthful tale of events that shocked Kerala, based on extensive research and visits to the region by the director.
‘The Kerala Story’ is a powerful and necessary film that sheds light on the brutal reality of how innocent girls were systematically trapped and converted to Islam before being sent to ISIS. It is a film that needs to be seen by everyone to understand the depth and frequency with which this takes place.
Read more about the film here
