The Kerala Story is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani. The plot follows the story of a group of women from Kerala who are converted to Islam and join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The film is premised on the conspiracy theory of “love jihad” and claims that thousands of women from Kerala are being converted to Islam and recruited into ISIS.

The movie which became controversial because of its claims on the number of Muslim women in Kerala inducted into ISIS has been declared tax-free in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. The West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala government has declared a ban on the movie.

Budget and Box Office

Budget: Rs 15 crore, Box Office: Rs 68 crore+ (May 11)

Ratings and Reviews

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

Narendra Modi: PM Modi expressed his support for the film, stating that it reveals the ugly truth of terror and exposes the perpetrators. He lamented that it is unfortunate that the Congress party is seen aligning with such terrorist forces for vote bank politics.

As soon as the teaser of the movie dropped, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan called it Sangh Parivar’s propaganda, while Kerala Congress MP Shashi Tharoor slammed the makers for their exaggerated claims. “This is not our Kerala story,” Tharoor said.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee ordered an immediate ban on the ‘The Kerala Story’ in the state. The Bengal government said that it was taking this decision to avoid “any incident of hatred and violence” in the state.