'The Kerala Story' sells lies; shouldn't be allowed to screen: Kerala

New Delhi: Prominent persons from Kerala have condemned the movie "The Kerala Story", post the release of its 2 mins 46 secs trailer, which was released two days ago on YouTube.

The trailer brewed an opinion storm of two factions where one faction copy-pasted or bot-generated support for the movie, and the other condemned the information without proven facts or figured the movie chose to sell.

Something that needs to be noted is that the movie's production company Sunshine Productions' YouTube channel has only around 43,000 subscribers, while the trailer has been watched by 10 million people in two days.

Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly alleged that the movie is selling the utter lie that 32,000 women were converted to Islam and were forced to join the Islamic State (ISIS). He demanded not to give permission to screen the film. He said that the movie is not driven by freedom of expression but by the intent to put a certain community in the shades and bring a communal rift.

He continued that the movie also intends to malign Kerala at the national level. This is a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda to germinate the seeds of sectarianism.

He said that Kerala would stand united against this deliberate move to foster religious rivalry and enmity. It will root out this dangerous move to separate people on the basis of religion. The Sangh Parivar will never understand the meaning of the word humanity, he said, adding that Kerala could not be divided by spewing the poison of communalism.

Muslim Youth League in Kerala has reacted against the movie's trailer on the same line. It said that the movie must not be allowed to be screened, and the director, Sudipto Sen, must be booked for creating it with ulterior motives.

From the side of the Kerala government, culture minister Saji Cherian came to the fore, denouncing the movie, saying that it is a deliberate attempt to destroy the atmosphere of religious harmony in the state. He called the masses to reject the movie with contempt.

He accused the Sangh Parivar of churning out a movie with the intention of spreading communalism so that it could reap political gains in the future.

Cheriyan was positive that Kerala is a state of religious harmony, and attempts to label it as a breeding plain of terrorism will not succeed. He said that the possibility of initiating legal action against it will be examined.