New Delhi

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is on high alert due to the impending release of Sudipto Sen's controversial film The Kerala Story. Depending on who you ask, the film is either "peddling lies aimed at creating communal polarisation" (Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan) or tells "a real story of Kerala's migration to the terror path" (BJP politician Sobha Surendran). While Kerala, the south Indian state at the heart of the film, is yet to take any measures against its release at the time of this report, the neighouring state Tamil Nadu is on edge due to voices of protest from some corners. The controversy erupted after the film's trailer made the claim implying that tens of thousands of girls from non-Muslim communities have disappeared from Kerala and somehow joined terror groups such as Islamic State. Critics slammed it as an incredulous allegation, but the makers of the film are sticking to their guns. 

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"Some groups have called for protests," the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times quoted a Tamil Nadu government official as saying. "Our intelligence wing has taken note of their messages on social media. Some Islamic groups have also approached the police in a few districts seeking a ban [of the film]," the official said, explaining the reason for the high alert in Tamil Nadu.

"But the government is not banning it," the official clarified. "Even Kerala has not banned it. We have, however, relayed the alerts to all the law enforcement agencies to remain on high alert."

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The film, featuring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani, follows a group of young women in Kerala who are converted to Islam, radicalised, and recruited to fight for Islamic State (IS). 

As per its YouTube description, the film tells a "spine-chilling, never told before true story" of a "dangerous conspiracy that has been hatched against India." 

It further claims that "thousands of Innocent women have been systematically converted, radicalised & their lives destroyed. It's their side of the story."

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The description of the video on YouTube had earlier said it is the story 32,000 women, but followed by the ensuing controversy over what many say are wildly inflated numbers, the makers quietly changed that number. 

In an interview with Festival of Bharat, a YouTube channel, director Sen said that the then-Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy had mentioned every year about 2,800-3,200 girls in Kerala being converted to Islam. 

"Just calculate this number for 10 years and that gives you 32,000 to 33,000 girls," he added.

Although Sen admits Chandy denied saying that, he has a document proving the claim. 

But the description of the film suggests that not only these many girls were converted, they went to the Middle-East to fight for IS.

As per The Indian Express newspaper, then junior home minister G Kishan Reddy told Indian Parliament that Indian authorities have arrested 155 Islamic State operatives and sympathisers across the country. 

A US State Department report from 2020 said, “There were 66 known Indian-origin fighters affiliated with ISIS, as of November."

The film releases on May 5 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam languages across India.

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