Kerala story Archives - Lokmarg

I Am Against Propaganda Films: Kamal Haasan On ‘Kerala Story’

By LokMarg 27th May 2023

Veteran actor Kamal Haasan who is in Abu Dhabi for receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema award at IIFA 2023 on Saturday reacted to the ongoing controversy of ‘The Kerala Story’.

During a media interaction, Kamal shared his thoughts on the film ‘The Kerala Story’, he said, “I told you, it’s propaganda film that I am against. It’s not enough if you write true story just at the bottom as a logo. It has to really be true and that is not true.”

He added, “It’s not enough that you say based on a true story because that what everyone does. I think, you have to hit the true cord in audience that kind of cinema is not one kind of cinema. There is mono culture, is not the great thing specially in art. So all kind of cinema should come over. And I am a great fan of smaller movies. Like babies that grow up to be something really big. I also became a star by these kind of smaller films which made it big with audience. Awards are different thing. I am talking about audience accepting it much before the award jury grand them the honour.”

‘The Kerala Story’ has been facing criticism by political parties due to its storyline.

‘The Kerala Story’ stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles. The controversy surrounding the film started when its trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS. This statement triggered a heated political debate and many leaders questioned the veracity of the claim.

Earlier, the Supreme Court stayed the ban imposed by the West Bengal government on the film ‘The Kerala Story’ on May 18.

“Prohibition by West Bengal is not tenable. The order of the additional secretary of West Bengal shall remain stayed,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said.

The apex court also directed the makers of The Kerala Story to give a proper disclaimer regarding the unsubstantiated figure ‘32,000’ mentioned in the film.

Senior Adv Harish Salve, appearing for film producers, says that disclaimer -“There is no authentic data to back up the suggestion that the figure of conversions is 32,000 or any other established figure” and “the film represents the fictionalised version” of the issue- shall be added.

Coming back to IIFA, this year veteran actor Kamal Haasan will be felicitated with the Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema award at the gala.

Apart from him, actors and couple Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza will be awarded for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Regional Cinema’ and Designer Manish Malhotra will also be honoured for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Fashion in Cinema’.

The mega celebrations started on Friday, with Sobha IIFA Rocks hosted by Farah Khan Kunder and Rajkummar Rao.

Last night, Singers like Amit Trivedi, along with several popular singers, Badshah, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nucleya and Sukhbir Singh rocked the IIFA stage with their performances.

The most highly awaited special addition this year to the Sobha IIFA Rocks is the premiere of an exclusive showcase by leading celebrity designer, Manish Malhotra, who is celebrating 25 years in the fashion industry.

The grand finale – Nexa IIFA Awards will take place today and will be hosted by Abhishek Bachchan and Vicky Kaushal. (ANI)

Adah Sharma: I Hope Kerala Story Is Shown Freely Across India

By LokMarg 17th May 2023

Actor Adah Sharma is being lauded for her performance in ‘The Kerala Story’. However, she is quite sad as her film got banned in West Bengal.

Earlier this month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the film in the state to avoid “any incident of hatred and violence and to maintain peace in the state”.

‘The Kerala Story’ film depicts how thousands of young women were allegedly brainwashed into joining the Islamic State (IS) and heading off to countries like Syria and Afghanistan.

Reacting to it, Adah told ANI, “…Film is still banned in West Bengal. I hope it’s freely shown everywhere in India so that people can watch and decide if they like it or not.”

On Wednesday, the makers organised a press conference in Mumbai where they answered several questions related to the film.

Producer Vipul Shah urged every citizen of the country to watch this movie with their families. The producer said, “It’s not the story of these three Kerala girls. This thing is going on in the entire country. It’s our responsibility to watch this movie and be a voice of these women.”

Vipul said it was his ‘duty’ to make this film. “When Sudiptoda came to me with the script, I felt compelled towards the subject. We knew all the challenges coming our way. We knew it would be labelled as a ‘propaganda’ movie. But that did not deter us from making a movie, which is so humane and right.”

Vipul added the fact that he and director Sudipto (Sen) got emotional as the nation has to be woken up with such a film. “We all knew what we were getting into. These girls knew what troubles would come their way. But at least, the nation has started to talk about it. Forget ‘The Kerala Story’, it may come, it may go. But this topic should not go. This topic should remain at the centre of the nation’s conversation. That’s important.”(ANI)

It Is Not Our Kerala Story: Tharoor

By LokMarg 30th April 2023

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday reacted to the ongoing ‘The Kerala Story’ controversy on Twitter.

Taking to the microblogging site he shared the poster of the film and wrote, “It may be your Kerala story. It is not our Kerala story.”
https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1652675921717997569

‘The Kerala Story’ has become a topic for discussion around the numbers being exaggerated in the trailer of the film.

Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film is all set to hit the theatres on May 5, 2023.

‘The Kerala Story’ stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles.

The trailer of Sen’s film ‘The Kerala Story’ came under fire as it claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group, ISIS.

Leader of Opposition in Kerala Legislative Assembly VD Satheesan recently said that the film ‘The Kerala Story’ should not be granted permission for screening.

“The film ‘The Kerala Story’ which falsely claims that 32,000 women in Kerala converted and became members of the Islamic State, should not be granted permission for screening. The trailer clearly shows what the film intends to say”, Satheesan said in a Facebook post.

He also alleged that the film is part of an attempt to implement Sangh Parivar’s agenda and create a social divide by casting a shadow of doubt over the minority groups.

“This is not an issue of freedom of expression but part of an attempt to implement the Sangh Parivar agenda to create a divide in the society by casting a shadow of doubt over the minority groups”, he said. (ANI)