Hindi language drama The Kerala Story, which many in India view as a blatant propaganda tool against Muslims and the state of Kerala, released in theaters on May 5, 2023. The 138-minute film, widely accused of being Islamophobic is written and Suryapal Singh, Sudipto Sen, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. 

The Kerala Story, said to be inspired by real life love jihad* incidents, debatably claims that thousands of women from Kerala have been manipulated into Islam conversions and joining the Islamic State. The story is centered around Shalini Unnikrishnan (Adhah Sharma), who shares her harrowing journey of aspiring to become a nurse, only to be coerced by extremist groups, and eventually manipulated into joining the ISIS and ending up in Afghanistan prison.

 

*Love Jihad is a theory that suggests that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning love, deception, kidnapping, and marriage, as part of an organized targetting, that enables Islam domination through demographic growth and replacement in India. 

This highly controversial film is currently gearing up for a digital premiere on Zee 5 streaming platform. The Kerala Story's OTT release date is said to be July 7, 2023 while some suggest it could come as early as June last week. Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, Siddhi Idanani, Devadarshini among others play pivotal roles in the movie.