PremiumPropaganda film claims: The Kerala Story maker Sudipto Sen urges audiences to watch film and debate
The filmmaker claims that he’s made a sensible film based on first-person accounts and that he’s ready to debate and fight once audiences have seen what he’s portrayed
Last Updated: 01.51 PM, Apr 28, 2023
Ever since the trailer of filmmaker Sudipto Sen’s The Kerala Story came out, netizens have been widely divided in their response to it. While a section is patting Sudipto on the back for bringing to the screen a tale of religious radicalisation, others are vociferously against it and calling it a propaganda film, much like The Kashmir Files. In fact, shortly after the trailer came out, a case was registered against the filmmaker under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153 A & B (promoting disharmony and enmity between different groups based on the ground of faith), based on a complaint by a Tamil Nadu based journalist.
The journalist has also written to the Censor Board seeking clarification about the veracity of the ‘facts’ as portrayed in the trailer, failing which, he has asked for a ban on the film. Amid all this backlash, the filmmaker took to social media urging netizens to watch the film before dismissing it as a propaganda machinery. Calling it sensible cinema, Sudipto said that it is the result of hard work of seven years of multiple individuals. The filmmaker also promised that he is up for a debate and fight after the film is out, and once people know for sure what he’s trying to portray.
He wrote, “Folded hand I request all of u to watch the film first. Country's best, award-winning technicians worked with a super young team for 7 long yrs & delivered one sensible cinema. We agree to disagree. But pls watch the film first 🙏 #VipulAmrutlalShah #TheKeralaStory.” In another tweet, he added, “Pls watch #TheKeralaStory Believe me, you've to listen to the stories of Shalini Geetanjai Nimah & Asifa. When I listened about them, my heart was numb. Only tears engulfed me. Promise - We'll debate & fight later. Pls watch it for them & their helpless parents #VipulAmrutlalShah”
The trailer featured a woman (Adah) as Shalini Unnikrishnan alias Fathima Ba, an aspiring nurse, who is converted into Islam and chosen as one of 32,000 women from the state sent to join the IS.