The Kerala Story (2023): An Untold True Story Of Terrorist Conversions

The truth is not delicate, and it does not suffer from denial. The truth only dies when true stories are untold. Bollywood has gone the extra mile to bring before its audiences a true story of the Islamic conversion of innocent Hindu women in India. Titled “The Kerala Story”, this crime-thriller has been produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, directed by Sudipto Sen, and co-written by both along with Suryapal Singh.

Adah Sharma as Shalini Unnikrishnan in The Kerala Story

The Kerala Story tells the story of the prevalence of Love Jihad in India. Love Jihad is the concept where women from other religions, especially Hindu women, are lured by “Jihadi” Muslim men through seduction, deception, kidnapping, and marriage to be converted to Islam. The motive of Love Jihad by Muslims is to hook up with non-Muslim women, as many as possible, and reproduce to increase the Muslim community. This movie tells the story of four friends who fell victim to such deception and were converted to Islam in the state of Kerala in India. After their conversion, they were forced to join the notorious terrorist organization named the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Adah Sharma plays the lead in this film. She plays the role of a Kerala-based Hindu nurse named Shalini Unnikrishnan who was deceived into love by her Muslim boyfriend. Her “so-called” boyfriend was actually a recruiter of the ISIS. She got pregnant with his child, and was made to convert to Islam with a new name “Fatima Ba”. She later married another Muslim man and was brainwashed into joining ISIS in Syria.

The Kerala Story (2023) Official Trailer:

The Good:

This is an exceptional true story that does not hide anything at all! The best thing about The Kerala Story is that it satisfies the hunger of the Hindu-majority audience in India. If you are Islamophobic, then this film will serve you ample Islamophobia on a plate to satisfy your hunger. As you are aware that the reigning leader of India is a Hindu nationalist, this film does come as a feast for his blind supporters.

A still from The Kerala Story showing Shalini’s marriage according to Muslim traditions

The Kerala Story depicts the insecurities of people in modern-day India and quenches their thirst for such content. People are very well aware that Love Jihad exists in India. A few months ago, a vicious murder of a Hindu girl by her Muslim boyfriend happened in Delhi, India. The girl was living with her boyfriend and was mercilessly butchered by him. He cut her corpse into small pieces and stored her body parts, organs, and her severed head inside a refrigerator at their home. And if you ask, why he did so? He did it because she was constantly coaxing him to marry her. That was the only reason!

So, this is just one case. And not just this one, but Hindu girls have been targeted by Jihadi Muslim men for ages. They have fallen victim to betrayal and rape at the hands of Muslim nationalists. Here I am not talking about all Muslim men. I am referring to those Muslims who practice Love Jihad and spoil the name of the entire Muslim community. In fact, their aim is to target women of other religions and lure them into love, marry them, and convert them to Islam.

Shalini gets converted to a Muslim lady and adopted the new name “Fatima Ba”

In The Kerala Story, Shalini did not have “safe sex” with her Muslim boyfriend and as a result, she got pregnant. Her boyfriend then tells her that unless she converts to Islam, he will not marry her. So, Shalini had no other option but to transform herself into “Fatima Ba”, a Muslim woman.

But after her conversion, her boyfriend flees! Shalini, who is now “Fatima Ba”, seeks help from a Muslim religious leader. The Muslim religious leader advises her to get married to another Muslim man, now that she has become a Muslim. But wait! She already had pre-marital sex which is considered to be a sin in Islam. So what do you expect her to do next? She has to repent for this sin, right? So now, the Muslim religious leader advises her that she has to go to Syria and join Jihad, ISIS. I have to applaud this. What a trap! But before Shalini went to Syria to join ISIS, she got a call from her friend that her boyfriend who had impregnated her and escaped was actually a recruiter of ISIS. He did this on purpose to make her join the ISIS. He had gone underground and was still in Kerala. He hadn’t run away anywhere. Now he is on his desperate mission of seeking other non-Muslim women, trapping them through his love, and converting them to Islam.

The Bad:

In this movie, Adah Sharma who plays the role of a Hindu nurse named Shalini Unnikrishnan, has been shown getting converted to Islam. And how did she get converted? In her medical college, she was brainwashed that wearing a “hijab”, which Muslim women wear, will save her from getting raped. What bullshit!

A still from The Kerala Story

Now, how can I praise Adah’s acting? I believe that instead of Adah Sharma, if a female puppet was put as the lead of this film, then also this film could have done well. She actually did have nothing to do throughout the film except surrender herself and be preyed upon by Jihadi Muslims. Hindu women in this movie have been portrayed as weak, desperate, and confused and they have been shown to be falling as easy prey to Muslim men. This film actually mocks the Hindu religion and its Gods.

Shalini was brainwashed by Jihadi Muslims of ISIS. The “travel bug” inside her urged her to go to Syria along with her new husband in spite of knowing what was going to happen to her. So she did, and finally, she realized the mistake she made! Her phone was taken away from her in the name of the Sharia Law of Islam. I don’t know much about this crap of a “so-called law” but yes, it has been shown in the film that under the Sharia Islamic Law, women are not allowed to keep mobile phones. So, Shalini’s phone was taken away from her, and she was trapped in Syria without any means of communication.

Now tell me, why didn’t Shalini know about this Sharia Law before traveling to Syria? That’s why I advise filmmakers in my reviews; please do your homework before making a movie! There is a concept of red flags in any relationship. Some kind of alarm bell always rings whenever things are supposed to go wrong. If you keep ignoring those red flags, you are sure to dig deep into the worst possible situations! Firstly, if a woman’s boyfriend gets her pregnant and runs away, how can she marry a stranger in the very next instant? I would say, the plot of this movie is like a 10-year-old trouser which has been infested with holes!

The Verdict:

The cinematography by Prasantanu Mohapatra, and the editing by Sanjay Sharma, are both dull. I can show you better productions than this film on YouTube. The Kerala Story will become a box-office hit not because of its viewing experience but because of its emotional impact.

The Kerala Story has been surrounded by controversy ever since its trailer came out. The Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) alleged the film of spreading communal misinformation and propagating the conspiracy theory of Love Jihad. They said that such false propaganda can defame the Kerala state and called for a ban on this film. In fact, this film does promote violence and hate which can affect the mentality of the audiences.

It has been stated in the film that 32,000 non-Muslim Indian girls have been converted to Islam and have been buried in the deserts of Syria and Yemen where they had been trained to become dreaded terrorists. I can understand that The Kerala Story depicts the true story of four Indian women who were converted and made to join ISIS, but 32,000?! That’s a huge number! Where’s the evidence of such statistics? In light of the allegations, Vipul Amrutlal Shah responded that they made this film after conducting thorough research, and they have all evidence regarding the matter.

Whatever the case is, The Kerala Story is a truly heart-breaking story of four Indian non-Muslim women who were converted to Islam, and made to join ISIS. The filmmakers have claimed that the Indian government, in spite of being aware of everything, did not take any definitive action against such massive international conspiracies led by ISIS groups in India. The communication modes of these women were taken away from them in Syria, their husbands were killed, and they got no help from India. This film highlights the failure of the Indian government in such matters.

The Kerala Story shows an organized ISIS recruitment occurring on a large scale in the state of Kerala in India. It is true that ISIS attracts and recruits fundamentalists from all over the world; there’s no doubt about that. But the concept of this “organized recruitment” going on in Kerala has no real evidence and is actually defaming the Kerala state.

The Kerala Story does provoke extreme reactions. Some may love this film, and some may hate it. In light of the General Elections to be held in India in 2024, I believe that this is the right time for the ruling party in India, The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to propagate its agenda in the state of Kerala. No doubt, nowadays Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be seen mentioning The Kerala Story in his political campaigns.

 

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  • Acting - 6/10
    6/10
  • Cinematography/Visual Effects - 5.5/10
    5.5/10
  • Plot/Screenplay - 5/10
    5/10
  • Setting/Theme - 7.5/10
    7.5/10
  • Watchability - 8.5/10
    8.5/10
  • Rewatchability - 6.5/10
    6.5/10
Overall
6.5/10
6.5/10
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About Subhadeep Kumar Ganguli

Meta film critic. Never make the same mistake twice. Make it three or four times just to be sure 😉