The makers of The Kerala Story on Friday told the Kerala High Court that they will take down the film’s teaser that claimed that more than 32,000 women from the southern state had been forcefully converted to Islam and recruited to the terror group Islamic State, reported Live Law.
In the teaser released in November, the filmmakers had made the claim about 32,000 women but when asked to provide evidence, they altered the trailer of the movie to say that it was a “compilation of the true stories of three young girls”.
Directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story hit the screens on Friday.
Even as the film was released, the High Court on Friday heard a batch of pleas seeking a stay on the screening of the movie. The petitioners had contended that the movie promoted hate speech against the Muslim community. However, the court refused to put a stay on the film’s release, observing that it only says that movie was “inspired by true events”, reported Live Law.
The division bench comprising Justice N Nagaresh and Justice Sophy Thomas noted that there were several other movies where Hindu characters have been portrayed in negative roles.
“There are many movies in which Hindu Sanyasis [hermits] are shown as smugglers and rapists,” Justice Nagaresh remarked orally, reported Live Law. “No one says anything. You may have seen such movies in Hindi and Malayalam. In Kerala we are so secular.”
Justice Nagaresh, however, asked the counsel of the film’s producer how did they get to the number of 32,000 women being converted. The counsel said that it was based on information that the filmmakers had received. However, he agreed to take down the trailer.
A bunch of pleas had been filed before the Supreme Court as well challenging the release of the movie. However, the top court declined to order a stay, saying that the petitioner must think about the “money sunk” into the project by the makers of the film and the labour put in by the actors.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday claimed that the movie exposed terror conspiracies in the southern state and accused the Congress of having a covert political understanding with people holding “terrorist mindsets”.
He made the statement at a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in the city of Ballari in poll-bound Karnataka.
‘The Kerala Story’ made tax-free in Madhya Pradesh
Following Modi’s comments, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday announced tax break for the film, reported PTI. When a film is made tax free, entertainment tax is not levied on it, which makes ticket prices cheaper. Usually, films that are exempt from taxes deal with historical themes or social causes that the government wants to push.
“We have already made a law against religious conversion in Madhya Pradesh,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told PTI. “Since this film creates awareness, everyone should watch this film. Parents, children and daughters should watch it.”
The BJP leader said that the movie exposes the conspiracies of ‘love jihad’, religious conversion and terrorism.
“Love jihad” is a debunked Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men romantically lure Hindu women in order to convert them to Islam.
However, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said on April 30 that film was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-led Sangh Parivar’s propaganda to project the state as a centre of religious extremism by raising the bogey of “love jihad”.
Also read: ‘The Kerala Story’ review: All about Islamophobia
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