The Kerala Story is an upcoming Hindi movie which is all set to release in theaters across the nation on May 5, 2023 [Friday]. Produced by filmmaker Vipul Shah, directed by Sudipto Sen and starring Siddhi Idnani, Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani and Sonia Balani, The Kerala Story is at the center of a huge controversy with the likes of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, ruling CPM-led LDF party, the opposition UDF party, Congress MP Shahi Taroor among others accusing the movie of targetted propaganda and hate speech. 

Centered around forced religious conversions, The Kerala Story was intitially publicized as "heart-breaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala". The film's trailer claimed that approximately 32,000 women in Kerala were converted to Islam and many were taken to ISIS-ruled Syria when the terror group was at the peak of its power.

A petition was filed at the Supreme Court seeking a stay on its release on grounds of "worst kind of hate speech" and "audio-visual propaganda", but the SC bench refused to stay stating, "If you want to challenge the release of the movie, you should challenge the certification (CBFC) and through appropriate forum,"

Congress MP Shashi Taroor also challenged this claim on Twitter by offering a reward of Rs. 1 Cr. to anyone who can prove this with evidence. Following the same, the makers of The Kerala Story changed their film's description to, "..a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala", with the film's director Sudipto Sen adding during a JNU visit, "Do you think the number actually matters? The 32,000 number is an arbitrary number. It is based on facts."

In single shot, you reduced it by 31997, brilliant Sir.

— RKMishra (@RkMishraEr) May 2, 2023

Amidst all this, the Tamil Nadu police has warned all theaters about the possible security threats that might arise if The Kerala Story was screened. Almost every theater in Tamil Nadu has decided not to showcase screenings of movie, except for nationalized multiplexes like PVR and INOX who take on a film nationally and not regionally. Legally, it is upto the discretion of the theater owners whether or not they want to screen a movie once it is censored. 

Let me stress, I am not calling for a ban on the film. Freedom of expression does not cease to be valuable just because it can be misused. But Keralites have every right to say loud & clear that this is a misrepresentation of our reality. https://t.co/sEIG91mjSP

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 1, 2023

Also Read: AR Rahman shares the 'other' Kerala Story