The teaser of a movie named ‘The Kerala Story’ is making rounds on social media. The teaser shows a woman named Shalini Unnikrishnan wearing a burqa. The woman says that she is working with ISIS and her name has been changed to Fatima after her religious conversion. She further states that 32,000 more such women have taken up terrorism after being forcibly converted to Islam.
The @sudiptoSENtlm directorial #KeralaStory teaser is finally… few things can be compared to the power of this… here is a devastating human story that will jab us in the small of our backs…just can't wait to watch this@adah_sharma @sunshinepicturehttps://t.co/SQvlu95LmZ
— Murtaza Ali Khan (@MurtazaCritic) November 4, 2022
Shared As A Fact
Several news organisations, film reviewers, and independent journalists shared the teaser, claiming it to be the truth. Besides media houses, several leaders from the ruling party have also shared this video, which has received a lot of engagement from their audiences.
Tha Kerala Story teaser
It's not just a movie, it's reality
The Kerala Story narrates the story of 32,000 women who went missing#thakeralastory #Leaked #lovejihaad #TEASER #nowmovie #keralastory #savehindu #Terrorists #HindusUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/zLJjIsOw8t— kattar hindu🚩 (@kattarhindu_77) November 10, 2022
#keralastory is a movie and not a documentary. The issue that needs to be discussed is not the number 32k, but the truth is #kerala is the number one state where the maximum number of people have joined ISIS, this is the place where #lovejihad started from. My take on @republic https://t.co/ca7GaDcQqf
— PKD Nambiar (@pkdnambiar) November 9, 2022
Nexus of Communist & Congress against Hindus continues in Kerala, this being badly exposed by film maker @sudiptoSENtlm many times. Earlier,he made #InNameofLove which showed d issue of conversion & now #keralastory is decoding d situation of girls & their exploitation by jihadis https://t.co/5fXaUTGaCO
— SRIKANT🇮🇳 (@srikantjnu) November 10, 2022
Heart breaking and gut wrenching stories of 32000 females in Kerala!#ComingSoon#VipulAmrutlalShah @sudiptoSENtlm @adah_sharma @Aashin_A_Shah#SunshinePictures #TheKeralaStory #UpcomingMovie #TrueStory #AdahSharma pic.twitter.com/M6oROuGGSu
— Adah Sharma (@adah_sharma) November 3, 2022
No Evidence
The teaser claims that 32,000 Hindu and Christain women have been converted to Islam, however, there is no mention of the source of this figure. Indian fact checking website Alt News reported that there is ‘no evidence’ of the number. The news portals which shared the same also took the ‘investigation’ conducted by the director of the movie Sudipto Sen, at face value.
In an interview to a Youtube channel named ‘The Festival of Bharat’, Sudipto Sen, the director, talked about the calculations of his figures, “In 2010, former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy put a report in front of Kerala assembly. In front of my camera, he denied any that had happened. But in 2010, I documented a case where he said that every year approximately 2,800 to 3,200 were taking up Islam. Just calculate it for the following 10 years, the number is around 32,000”.
A 2012 report by India Today states “On June 25, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy informed the state legislature that 2,667 young women converted to Islam in the state since 2006.” The report does not mention the case of those women joining ISIS.
Response to the teaser
There have been reactions to the teaser in the political spectrum of the country. Congress leader VC Satheesan said that it is a clear case of misinformation. He also claimed that the movie “tarnishes the image of Kerala.”
The Kerala Story movie’s teaser has run into rough weather with powerful forces trying to scuttle the movie. A formal complaint has been filed with Kerala police to check the veracity of the claims made in the trailer.
Who are these people who don’t want the truth to come out? pic.twitter.com/D3vngfH8iw
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 9, 2022
Head of the BJP IT cell Amit Malviya shared the teaser of the movie on Twitter and wrote that “A formal complaint has been filed with Kerala police to check the veracity of the claims made in the trailer. Who are these people who don’t want the truth to come out?”
