The Kerala Story: A Courageous Film Driven By Solid Performances

A year ago, before there was any talk of making a movie on the Islamist radicalisation machinery in Kerala, Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story’s director made what seemed to me like a rather alarmist statement. 

He said that the Indian states of Kerala and West Bengal are “time-bombs of radical Islam”.

Sen seems to have remained steadfast in his stance, going by his film.

The Kerala Story begins with a disclaimer that it’s inspired by ‘many true incidents’. Sen has used a shock-and-awe approach, quite similar to The Kashmir Files, to convey the story in a compelling manner.

The visuals begin with the camera on a ‘trapped and brainwashed’ Shalini Unnikrishnan, played by Adah Sharma, who makes a bold statement about the malicious methods used by Islamists to lure women of other faith into Islam, and then traffic them to places like Afghanistan and Syria. 

The plot of the film centres on a student from Thiruvananthapuram, Shalini, who moves to Kasargod to pursue her studies in a nursing college.

There, she meets three other roommates - one Christian, one Muslim and a Hindu.

The storyline kicks in when her Muslim roommate Asifa engages in debates on religion. She makes a case for Islam and asks why Hindu gods are weak. She asks the other girls why Krishna had so many partners and why Ram let Sita get kidnapped in the first place. She insists on the fact that these are signs of weakness and disloyalty.

Asifa, with the help of her co-conspirators, orchestrates difficult social situations for the girls. When vulnerable, she casually remarks that the incident could have been avoided had the girls worn a hijab and accepted Islam as their faith.

Eventually, through turn of events, Shalini does convert to Islam and assumes the name Fatima Ba. The rest of the film narrates the struggle of Shalini amid the atrocities she and other women have to go through at the hands of terrorists.

Sen delves into the nuances and we get a detailed view of the tactics used by the agents of radicalisation. This involves the false promise of a marriage, forced conversion and mind-altering drugs.

Adah Sharma and the supporting cast have done a commendable job in portraying the characters with varied emotions.

In its plot, the film also attempts to address the dilemma of defining what constitutes the practice of true Islam and what does not. For instance, there have been instances where women (and men) have been subjugated to harsh punishments, or even death, for listening to music, premarital sex and even for usage of mobile phones.

Even in wealthier nations like Brunei, rights of sexual minorities are little to none. In fact, the anti-LGBT law prescribes stoning to death for those that are booked under the provisions of that law.

In the theatre I was in, the audience was shocked on discovering the aforementioned. 

While the media has debated the existence of "love jihad" for many years, even communities apart from the Hindu have taken cognisance of the phenomenon. In fact, amongst the earliest usages of the phrase has been attributed to members of the Kerala Church and activists allied to it.

Even in 2021, the Kerala Church had issued a warning against ‘love jihad and narcotic jihad’, making it the first time that a Catholic diocese in India came forward to warn their community about it.

The journey of Shalini Unnikrishnan, who later becomes Fatima Ba, is one that has been faced by many victims in Kerala. While the numbers can be debated, the state has indeed registered a presence of the Islamic State and its local affiliates.

A primer written by Observer Research Foundation’s Kabir Taneja and Mohammad Sinan Siyech touches upon the issue.

Between 2014 and 2018, nearly 200 people were reported to have either shared IS propaganda online or planned to travel to West Asia to join the Caliphate. (In my last conversation with Kabir, explaining the issue of radicalisation in Kerala he had said that the number of recruits from a country like France were even higher than those from India).

The Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu trijunction is reported to serve as a safe haven for many Islamist groups. There was even a call for the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) permanent division to be set up in Bengaluru a few years ago. Back then, it became a local political controversy, instead. 

There have also been instances where Sharia was implemented at a hyperlocal level in a few towns in India.

The Kerala government, just last year, vouched for Sharia law, remarking it as “real expression of the Prophet”.

In fact, the movie also touches upon the fact that the April 2019 Easter bombing in Sri Lanka was carried out by a native of Kerala’s Palakkad.

The movie makes a compelling case for the Islamist propaganda, manipulation and terrorism. The story of these victims has remained untold even today. They await justice for their daughters. 

While the storyboarding of the film is far from perfect, the makers and the crew deserve accolades for the sheer courage to choose this subject and see their project through.

The most heart wrenching part of the movie comes in the post-credits when the actual victims’ families give testimonials to the makers of the movie. Whether the movie lives up to your expectations or not, towards the end, there is no denying the fact that the grief shared by the families of the victims will touch a chord with anyone who has a heart.

The movie must be watched enmasse for the sake of awareness. 

Also read: I attended the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’ in JNU. This is how it went.