Trailer Out To Positive Feedback, Film On ISIS Brides Of Kerala Gets Release Date

Trailer of the much-talked-about upcoming film The Kerala Story, based on ‘ISIS brides’ from Kerala, was released yesterday (26 April) to largely positive feedback. It’s slated for a 5 May release.

The film is produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who has previously directed multi-starrer Bollywood films such as Aankhen, Waqt and Namastey London and produced Singh is Kinng, among others. Shah is also the creative director and co-writer of The Kerala Story.

The film features actress Adah Sharma in the lead. She plays a character named Shalini Unnikrishnan, who is converted to Islam, married and trafficked.

As per reports, the film is about four women who go from being regular college-going girls to joining the world’s most notorious terrorist organisation, the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).

The film has been directed by Sudipto Sen.

The trailer opens with Adah being introduced as Shalini, a Hindu, and being manipulated into embracing hijab and Islamic ways of worship by a hijab-clad Muslim friend. The next scene shows Shalini as being questioned by agencies on how she joined the ISIS.

The trailer shows Islamic clerics goading a group of young men and women into trapping non-Muslim girls into conversion through relationships.

Reactions on YouTube and other platforms where the trailer was released, suggest largely positive feedback. A user on YouTube wrote, "As a Syrian Christian from Kerala, I am grateful to the team, for taking this brave step to portray the real incidents of Kerala ISIS case..."

Another user wrote, "As a Keralite, I appreciate the courage of the filmmakers." Yet another wrote, "Goosebumps and tears..."

The film courted controversy in November when the teaser claimed that 32,000 women have been converted and trafficked from Kerala. The claim was based on statements made in the past by former Kerala chief ministers Oommen Chandy and V S Achuthanandan.

A journalist from Tamil Nadu petitioned the Central Board of Film Certification, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and Kerala chief minister’s office to ban the film until Shah presented evidence of the claim. The trailer does not make that claim.

The filmmakers announced the date of the release on Monday, with a poster that shows a burqa-clad woman. The tagline says, “Uncovering the truth that was kept hidden”.

The film comes at a time when there is a worldwide debate going on over reinstating of ‘ISIS brides’ into the country of their birth.

These women married ISIS fighters and migrated to ISIS-run camps in Afghanistan and Syria to live with their husbands, often directly supporting the ISIS cause. While Shamima Begum has been denied entry by Britain after she left the country at the age of 15 to live as an ISIS bride, four women from Kerala, too, have been denied entry by the Indian government.

The four women are Sonia Sebastian alias Ayesha, Rafala Ijas, Merin Jacob alias Mariyam and Nimisha alias Fathima Isa.