The Kerala Story Director Calls Film 'Great Service to Islam'; Vipul Shah Says 'Singham Had Hindu Villain'

The Kerala Story producer Vipul Shah and director Sudipto Sen on Wednesday categorically dismissed the claims that their latest film propagates hatred against the Muslim community. The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma, revolves around a Hindu woman from Kerala who is converted to Islam and trafficked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

While addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Vipul Shah pointed out that over the years Hindi films have had many non-Muslim villains then why The Kerala Story is being targeted.

Reacting to the allegations, Shah told the media, “Sholay had Gabbar Singh as villain. But that didn’t mean Ramesh Sippy sahab was against Singh community. Singham had a Hindu villain. That didn’t mean Hindus are bad. Why is this biased judgement against us? We have only talked about the perpetrators.”

When asked why there was no single “redeeming” Muslim character in The Kerala Story, Sudipto Sen said, “We are not here to do a balancing act. The whole world is going through this. When we talk about terror we can’t automatically assume that we are targeting the religion. We have done a great service to Islam.”

Sen also claimed that while one part of Kerala is very beautiful, the other part is a “terror-network hub.” “There are two Keralas that exist inside Kerala – one which is like a postcard with backwaters, beautiful landscape, Kalaripayattu, dance, martial arts. The other Kerala – the northern part of Kerala – Malappuram, Kasaragod, Kozhikode which connects to south Karnataka including Mangaluru, is a terror-network hub…”

A section of political parties also questioned the makers of The Kerala Story over their now-withdrawn claim that 32,000 women from Kerala were converted to Islam and recruited to ISIS. Reacting to the same, Vipul Shah said, “We told the story of 32,000 women through these 3 women. People tried to discredit us by picking up 32,000. What we were saying is that this is a story of 32,000 through 3 women.”

Despite several controversies and calls for a ban, The Kerala Story has been running exceptionally well in theatres. It has already crossed Rs 150 crore-mark at the box office within 12 days of its release.