The Kerala High Court sent a notice to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the producer of The Kerala Story 2 over its controversial trailer. The notice was sent to revoke the censor certification given to the Kerala story.
The petition has been filed by Sreedev Namboothiri, a native of Chittariparamba, Kannur district. He claimed that the film contains “malicious and stereotypical projections scandalizing an entire state without any basis.”
“A perusal of the trailer of the movie shows that the story is based on women from three different states and takes place mainly in the northern part of India. Yet, the title and scenes try to portray the state in a bad light. 5,” the petition reads, as reported by the ANI.
“The movie tends to alienate Kerala and Keralites from the rest of India, despite the fact that Keralites work across India and the world, contributing to the Indian economy and providing residence and employment to several migrant workers from other parts of India,” it added.
“Also, the name is an intentional attempt to impute a reality to what is more or less a speculative fear of the writer or director. While the petitioner is not against the freedom of expression of the writer-filmmaker to express their fears, whether substantive or speculative, they cannot attribute that fear to Kerala, to an entire state, falsely,” the petition read.
Following the petition, the Kerala High Court ordered the Censor Board to produce a response, and the movie’s producer has also been summoned by the court.
The teaser of the film The Kerala Story 2 introduces a sequel to the 2023 film, focusing on religious conversion themes across India, featuring Ulka Gupta as Surekha Nair (Kerala, UPSC aspirant), Aishwarya Ojha as Neha Sant (Madhya Pradesh, athlete), and Aditi Bhatia as Divya Paliwal (Rajasthan, aspiring influencer), who fall into manipulated relationships with Muslim men leading to conversion.
Speaking about The Kerala Story 2, the film’s producer, Vipul Shah, said to PTI, “I would request the Chief Minister of Kerala, with folded hands, to stop saying that we have made a propaganda film. Similar allegations were made when we made the first film, and we provided a video citing 32,000 cases. Clean Kerala of this menace so that nothing like this ever happens again.”
Congress leader V.D. Satheesan called it “ridiculous propaganda” dividing people along religious lines, unfit for Kerala’s unity. Meantime, the All India Muslim Jamaat (AIMJ) has also slammed the film, calling it a “fake narrative.”
“The Kerala Story 2 is a story based on fake narratives, and nowadays a trend has started among film directors to earn money in any way possible. The films these days are increasing communal tension and destroying the Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. All these things are being done as part of a planned effort to defame Muslims,” AIMJ President Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi said.
“One would be compelled to recall Kerala Story 1. Those were totally unfounded allegations and manufactured lies being used to tarnish the secular image of Kerala… Kerala Story 1 was totally bogus and a concoction… Highly objectionable ideas are being presented. According to the information available to me, some people were being forcefully compelled to eat beef. No such compulsions are happening in Kerala. This is a manufactured story… The Kerala CM has done the right thing by condemning this film. I am generally not for banning a book, film, or any literary or artistic work, even if it contains a wrong idea… But if some work of literature or art, in this case a film, is meant to develop division among society and enmity among different communities with a very vicious idea of creating communal riots in society, then that is not a film. That is against the Constitution of India. That should not be allowed to be screened…” On ‘Kerala Story 2’ movie, CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby said.
