The makers of the recently-released Hindi film The Kerala Story held a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon. The press conference was attended by the film’s star cast, director, as well as producer and creative director Vipul Shah, who reignited the debate about the film’s claim that 32,000 women from Kerala have been forcefully converted to Islam in the recent years.
The Kerala Story is based on the brainwashing and religious conversion of four women from Kerala by terror group ISIS. The film was criticised for its claims that 32,000 women faced this. Many labelled the film ‘propaganda’, including Kerala CM as well as several opposition leaders nationwide. Eventually, the makers dropped the 32,000 bit from the teaser and trailer.
The event saw social activists as well as women who had faced stories similar to the one told in the film also present. Attributing to them, Vipul Shah said, “They said 7000 girls are associated with one organisation. We have met hundreds of girls ourselves so it was never a question of just three girls. Our film is about is a story of three girls but three girls is not related to what is actually happening in Kerala. This story tells the tale of thousands of girls through these three girls in our film.”
Shah added that it pained him that people tried to ‘discredit’ them. “It hurt us that some folks in the media tried to discredit us. We are nobody but the lives of so many girls are being destroyed. To not support them and to try and label this film a lie is shameful. How right or wrong this is, everyone knows.” The filmmaker said he would collate all the data from all organisations and make a big reveal about the number soon.
In the run up to its release, The Kerala Story faced many calls for boycott and bans. Despite that, the film has grossed over Rs 190 crore in 12 days. Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani.
