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The Kerala Story: Plot

The Kerala Story is a Hindi-language movie directed by Sudipto Sen. The narrative is on a group of Keralan women who become Muslims and enlist with the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The movie's synopsis reads, "The events portrayed in the film seem to be inspired by four women from Kerala who converted to Islam and traveled with their husbands to Afghanistan to join ISIS between 2016 and 2018. They were part of a 21-member group from Kerala to join ISIS in 2016, remain incarcerated in Afghanistan since surrendering in 2019."

The Kerala Story: Cast

Adah Sharma (Fatima Ba)
Yogita Bihani (Nimah)
Siddhi Idnani (Geetanjali)
Sonia Balani (Asifa)

What Works?

This story of a town in Kasaragod, Kerala, takes you through the plight of three women who are affected by gruesome incidents. Love-Jihad, rapes, sex-slavery, ISIS recruitment, and more, all has been covered in this 2 hours 18 minutes movie, The Kerala Story.

The Kerala Story opens with a close-up of a battered Adah Sharma, who is thought to be a terrorist. She could be seen sitting in a UN detention centre and telling her one-year of struggle with the terrorists and how they were trained to become suicide bombers. But first, she describes how it all started and what's the backstory behind the beginning of all this. The scene shifts into the beautiful landscape of God's Own Country: Kerala.

Adah Sharma (Shalini who converts to Fatima) joins a nursing colleged in Kasargod, when she meets her other 3 roommates, Geetanjati, Nimah and Asifa (the one involved with the terrorists). Asifa's mission to brainwash her roommates begin, but she fails with Nimah as she is shown a smart and intelligent woman. As Shalini gets pregnant, she accepts Islman and marries a man who is not the father of her child, while Geetanjat is also asked to accept Islam, but she doesn't. She dies by suicide after her terrorist beau circulates her nude pics. The scenes are painful to watch as how easier it gets for the trained ISIS terrorists to brainwash the innocent girls who came for their further studies.

The story's structure of "The Kerala Story" results in a lot of back and forth movement between the past and present. The present is depicted in brown and dry tones, while the past is filled with vibrant hues that represent the characters' emotional states as well as their circumstances.

The storyline is highly captivating and holds your attention throughout the entire movie. The three characters' lives are shown up to the mark, which will keep you hooked until they rescue.

What Doesn't Work?

The true depiction of how Kerala was turning into an Islamic state comes with some loop holes, one being the mention of religions everytime, which was unnecessary. Asifa disrespecting Hindu as well as Catholic Gods might lead the makers as well as the movie into a controversy. The video depicts a lot of challenging differentiation between Hindu religious practises, and Sharia law, which might spark a whole new level of discussion.

Additionally, the director has placed a strong emphasis on the graphic violence and rape scenes, but he may have neglected to tell the tale of Nimah, who was repeatedly raped for days by 18 to 20 men. Although the movie's background score is fine and bearable, it wasn't necessary for it to play when Asifa talks about Hindu Gods and hell fire.

It's odd that the authors don't situate the tale in the intricate geopolitical questions of who founded Islamic State, instead he is busy decapitating women for wearing lipstick in areas where there is a political void. The scenes depicting the rape and suffering of the women who transported to Afghanistan have been prolonged to the point that it is occasionally unpleasant to watch.

Also, there is a scene when Fatima tries to rescue after she experiences the heights of sex-slavery. The two other women who ran with her were shot, while the makers didn't give much importance to why the terrorists would risk to let her go without even trying to find her.

The Kerala Story: Cast Performances

Adah Sharma's performance is undoubtedly praise-worthy. Her struggling in Afghanistan and trying to rescue everytime her husband leaves for some mission, has been shot perfectly. Her Malayali accent makes everything look real. Additionally, the performers Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani succeed in drawing attention to themselves by giving outstanding performances in the movie.

The Kerala Story: Final Verdict

The Kerala Story is a worth-watch movie which features the harsh reality and undiscovered truths of God's Own Country: Kerala. It might be scary at times as the makers have gone to an extent to make their point that some scenes could be disturbing to viewers. Making a movie like The Kerala Story is not easy as it needs a lot of guts, but more research which it lacks. The Kerala Story's director Sudipto Sen has somehow misrepresented the story with lots of twists.

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