The controversy over 'The Kerala Story', a movie written and directed by Sudipto Sen, continued to rage on with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan calling it 'a product of the Sangh Parivar lie factory.'
The movie trailer has triggered an uproar in the CPM-ruled state, with both the ruling party and opposition Congress calling it an effort to tarnish the state's image at international level and a bid to disturb its secular fabric.
However, the Chief Minister himself lashed out against the makers on Sunday, stating that the movie was trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar. "The trailer of the Hindi film The Kerala Story, which appears to have been deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala, was released last day. This film is trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar, which has established itself as the centre of religious extremism in the land of secularism, Kerala," Vijayan said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan | PTI
The Chief Minister added that it was "necessary to see propaganda films in the background of various efforts made by Sangh Parivar to gain an advantage in electoral politics in Kerala."
"It is part of a systematic move to frame the "love jihad" allegations which were rejected by the investigating agencies, the courts and even the Union Home Ministry. G Kishan Reddy, the then MoS Home who is a minister in the cabinet even today, had replied in the Parliament that there is no such thing as "Love Jihad," he said.
Vijayan said the Sangh Parivar was trying to spread division politics through fake stories and movies. "The Sangh Parivar is spreading such myths without any facts and evidence. The big lie that 32,000 women in Kerala converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State was what we saw in the trailer. This fake story is the product of Sangh Parivar's lie factory," he added.
Just after the trailer and the poster, which showed a burqa-clad woman with the tagline 'Uncovering the truth that was kept hidden' was released, Congress urged the government to ban the screening of the film.
The makers had announced that they were waiting for approval from the Censor Board, after which the movie would hit the marquee. 'The Kerala Story' is backed by Sunshine Pictures Private Limited, founded by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who serves as the producer, creative director and co-writer on the film.
Meanwhile, Adah Sharma, who plays a lead role in the movie, said the story was "really scary" and the "fact that people are calling it propaganda or are thinking about numbers before that girls went missing is scarier."
The story follows the story of a woman who converted her faith and join the extremist ISIS of Iraq and Syria. Adah said she met a few of these girls and "can't explain it in words, as I can't be doing justice to their pain in one or two lines."
She added that all the controversy around the number of women would disappear after one watches the movie.
