The film The Kerala Story has turned out to be an eye-opener for many, even as the usual suspects continue to lobby against the film. Taking to Twitter on Sunday, May 21, Naomi Canton, a London-based journalist who recently watched the Adah Sharma starrer after it hit the UK theatres on May 19, called it an “excellent film that probes what happens to women who marry ISIS fighters.”
“Just seen the movie The Kerala Story at the cinema in the UK. It is an excellent film that probes what happens when women marry ISIS fighters. Not seen any films like this,” Canton tweeted.
She further said that calling The Kerala Story a ‘propaganda film’ is nonsensical and is itself a “false propaganda”.
Naomi then points out that the victim women could have been Muslim or non-Muslim who married the ISIS terrorists adding that these women are meted out the same treatment. These women who were promised ‘paradise’ lose all their freedoms, their passports seized, and are raped and tormented. She added that these trapped women eventually regret it unless they are highly radicalized like Shamima Begum and have wilfully taken up ISIS ‘militant’ roles.
“To call it a propaganda film is complete nonsense and is itself false propaganda. It could have been a Muslim or non-Muslim woman who married these ISIS fighters. The treatment they get is the same – promised Paradise and when they get to Syria, they are raped, have all their freedoms and passports removed, are trapped and regret it (unless they are heavily radicalised like Shamima Begum and willingly take up ISIS militant roles),” Canton added.
Just seen the movie The Kerala Story at the cinema in the UK. It is an excellent film that probes what happens when women marry ISIS fighters. Not seen any films like this. To call it a propaganda film is complete nonsense and is itself false propaganda. It could have been a…
— Naomi Canton (@naomi2009) May 20, 2023
It is notable that Shamima Begum is a British ISIS bride who fled to Syria as a teenager to join ISIS. She married a Dutch recruit Yago Riedijk and lived with him for three years after arriving at an ISIS camp. She lost two children during that time. She was nine months pregnant when she was found in 2019. Begum was shifted to a Syrian refugee camp.
In 2019, Shamima Begun justified the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing by ISIS which claimed 22 lives saying that it was in retaliation to the other parties attacking ISIS.
She then went on to assert that the film talking about the dangers posed by ISIS to everyone depicts the story of two Hindu and one Christian woman in India and how they are groomed and converted to an “Islamist radical ideology”.
“The film is entirely about the dangers that ISIS poses to everyone. It happens to focus on two Hindus and one Christian girl in India who get groomed and radicalised to convert to an extreme Islamist ideology. It shows how this is done which is important,” Naomi Canton wrote in her tweet.
The London-based journalist then stresses that The Kerala Story is a film and not a documentary, saying that it is inspired by what happened with the three victim women in reality. She added that the film does not claim to state their exact stories.
“It is a film, not a documentary, so is inspired by what happened to three girls in Kerala – not claiming to state their exact stories. I hope some journalists in Kerala have gone to interview the families of these girls. Also hope the police arrest the men who radicalised these girls. One of them is still in Kerala running a pizza parlour” Naomi added.
The journalist was shocked that even Hindu girls were deployed to ISIS. Calling The Kerala Story a good film, she added that the film is not propaganda rather it exposes the propaganda—methods used to indoctrinate people.
“I had no clue that even one Hindu girl had gone to join ISIS from India. One alone is shocking. It is good the film showcases the truth of what happens when people do join such terror outfits and get radicalised. What is propaganda is not this film, but the methods ISIS use to radicalise people, which the film exposes,” Canton further wrote.
Canton also appreciated the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)’s decision to give the film an ’18’ age rating as the film has multiple violent sequences.
Notably, The movie The Kerala Story written and directed by Sudipto Sen revolves around Shalini Unnikrishnan, played by Adah Sharma, an innocent Hindu woman from Kerala, who is brainwashed by her Muslim friend and gets converted to Islam and marries a Muslim man. The lead actress soon realizes that she has been trapped in a huge terrorist web after she is raped, separated from her only child, and then forced to serve as a sex slave.
