New Delhi: ‘The Kerala Story’ producer says won’t respond to any political party after CPI(M) calls it BJP-sponsored
New Delhi: The producer of “The Kerala Story” Vipul Amrutlal Shah on Tuesday rejected allegations that the film is funded by the BJP, saying as filmmakers they have “nothing to do with any political party” and anything spoken about the film without watching it is “conjecture”.
The Sudipto Sen directorial, which has kicked up a political storm in Kerala, claims to unearth the “truth” behind “thousands of innocent women” who were “systematically converted, radicalized & their lives destroyed”.
The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala claimed that the film was “BJP sponsored” and part of the “Sangh Parivar agenda” to divide people and create animosity among them in the state.
In his reaction, Shah told PTI over phone, “We will choose not to respond to any political party. We are filmmakers and we have nothing to do with any political party stand. So, if CPI(M) feels that way without seeing the film, without having any kind of insight into the subject or the film of what we have done, it is their choice. I cannot respond to a political party and I choose not to.”
Controversies are just opinions of the people who haven’t seen the film, he added.
“Without any evidence… This is what they are feeling. So without seeing the film, everything is conjecture and their take on it. My truth doesn’t change that this is about these three girls, an absolute true story,” Shah said.
According to the latest description of the trailer, shared on production banner Sunshine Pictures’ official YouTube page, “The Kerala Story” is “a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala… Thousands of innocent women have been systematically converted, radicalized & their lives destroyed…”
In November 2022, the makers unveiled the teaser which claimed “The Kerala Story” presents the “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala!”
Earlier in the day, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan alleged the film was an attempt of the BJP and RSS to poison the minds of the people.
On Monday, BJP state president K Surendran held a press conference in Kozhikode where he claimed that recruitment to the Islamic State (IS) terror outfit from Kerala could not be denied and that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was aware of the exact figures.
A day earlier, Vijayan slammed the makers of “The Kerala Story”, saying they were taking up the Sangh Parivar propaganda of projecting the state as a centre of religious extremism by raising the issue of ‘love jihad’ — a concept rejected by the courts, probe agencies and the home ministry.
