The Kerala Story: Facts versus Fiction, art versus reality
Truth can be stranger than fiction at times, but fiction peddled as truth could open up the pathway to dangerous consequences. The Kerala Story, a motion picture set for release on May 5, is said to be based on true stories but has kicked up a storm for its alleged fictionalisation of a few past incidents in a typically filmy and polarising way.
While Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan believes the film is part of the Sangh Parivar propaganda, Congress leaders have called it a “bundle of lies” and sought denial of permission for its screening.
The Kerala High Court is currently seized of a petition seeking a stay on its release, though the Supreme Court had earlier rejected a similar petition. Both petitions argued that the movie promotes hate speech and could disturb communal harmony.
The movie is said to revolve around the theory of ‘Love Jihad’—an alleged plot to lure women into Islam through marriage/affair and radicalise them before they are drafted for terror activities. The movie’s first teaser triggered the storm, which claimed that close to 32,000 women were radicalised this way. When the number was disputed, the movie makers claimed it was the story of three women. That’s the number of Kerala women, as confirmed by Indian agencies, who were converted and recruited for the terror group Islamic State. The ‘Love Jihad’ conspiracy theorists, however, talk of larger numbers but none close to 32,000.
Apart from the content, another thing that seems odd here is the timing. The movie is being released when serious attempts are being made to achieve and strengthen non-Muslim vs Muslim polarisation in Kerala. Besides, with the controversy, the movie seems to have achieved one objective: It has generated much interest and stirred a debate on the Kerala reality, with those calling for its ban helping. Since we only have the promo to go with, let’s hope the movie sticks to facts and doesn’t present vastly fictionalised accounts, given how sensitive the matter is. A film is a work of art and can appear larger than life because of the associated values like artistic liberty and creative freedom. But, such a work could be testing the limits of freedom of expression when it acquires the potential to disturb the peace and cause serious harm. A work of art that becomes communal fodder is nothing to be proud of.