The historical past of cinema tells us that in propaganda films, girls are often depicted as susceptible victims to generate worry, suspicion, or hatred towards a focused group or minority group that’s framed as an enemy. If Gadar and Dhurandhar prototypes search to win over the foe’s feminine, The Kerala Story is about guarding ‘our’ women from falling into ‘their’ entice.
While the unique was in regards to the alleged coercion of non-Muslim girls in Kerala into changing to Islam and becoming a member of the Islamic State by manipulative relationships and indoctrination, the sequel goes past Kerala to the Hindi heartland however employs the identical machine to take advantage of protecting patriarchal instincts to border the ‘other’ as an existential menace to household, honour, purity, and society itself.
By portraying girls as harmless, gullible, or endangered, the movie mobilises outrage and regularly justifies hostility, discrimination, and even violence towards the demonised group. It depicts the Muslims ghettos as darkish holes the place ‘our’ daughters can be sucked in.
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond (Hindi)
Director: Kamakhya Narayan Singh
Duration: 131 minutes
Cast: Ulka Gupta, Aditi Bhatia, Aishwarya Ojha, Alka Amin, Sumit Gahlawat, Arjan Singh Aujla
Synopsis: It follows three younger Hindu girls from completely different Indian states who defy household traditions to pursue love with Muslim males, solely to face deception, coercion, compelled spiritual conversion, and lack of freedom.
A textbook instance of polarising cinema that sees audiences as Hindus and Muslims, the movie follows three parallel narratives of Hindu girls who enter relationships with Muslim males, resulting in manipulation, compelled spiritual conversion, and extreme penalties. For a message the place dad and mom want steerage, the UA certificates baffles.
A nonetheless from the movie
| Photo Credit:
Sunshine Pictures
Surekha (Ulka Gupta), a liberal, progressive girl from Kochi, falls in love with Salim, a married journalist who presents himself as liberal however later reveals his true intentions. Divya (Aditi Bhatia), a younger dancer and social media fanatic from a conservative household in Jodhpur, rebels towards her dad and mom’ restrictions and falls for Rasheed, who guarantees her freedom to pursue her ardour, solely to betray her. Similarly, Neha (Aishwarya Ojha), an formidable, Dalit javelin thrower from Gwalior, is lured by Faizan, who hides his identification and guarantees to help her profession. However, as soon as the connection begins, he exploits her belief.
The performances are higher than the unique, and Singh has a transparent grasp of what he’s attempting to convey, however after the preliminary promise, the movie falls right into a predictable sample, with the background rating saying the emotion upfront. Undermined by bias, poor cohesion, and trumped-up claims, the screenplay, geared toward audiences looking for validation of their majoritarian fears, reads extra like an ideological pamphlet than compelling cinema.
When it turns references to remoted legal circumstances right into a systemic communal conspiracy, it appears somebody has shot the dinner-table dilemmas of people that really feel the phrase ‘fraternity’ within the Preamble has misplaced its which means. It depicts one group as contributors in a coordinated effort to proselytise, manipulate, and alter India’s demographics by interfaith marriages and compelled conversions. While actual circumstances of coercion or abuse exist, the movie generalises them into blanket indictments.
A nonetheless from the movie
| Photo Credit:
Sunshine Pictures
The story hyperlinks particular person relationships to a bigger alleged plot, referencing ideas similar to “Ghazwa-e-Hind,” whose 2047 deadline curiously aligns with India’s march towards changing into Viksit Bharat. A cleric character articulates a objective of reworking India into an Islamic state underneath Sharia regulation through such techniques. While political Islam must be debated upon, the movie’s intrinsic logic doesn’t maintain because the boys present their true colors instantly after a easy wedding ceremony and conversion. How will their mission of demographic change fructify in the event that they push girls into prostitution or pressure them to alter their meals habits? In an effort to maintain the state of affairs black-and-white, the narrative suffers.
The nuance is available in the best way the writers take a look at the failings throughout the Hindu fold, the place you may really feel the echo of the WhatsApp forwards that berate the group for being secular and liberal, the place they rag dad and mom for not inculcating spiritual values of their youngsters. The oft-repeated rhetoric of 57 Muslim nations and the rising menace of Muslim migrants within the West doesn’t maintain, for the geopolitics tells us that mixed Muslim-majority nations usually are not a unified adversary and countering extremism entails group engagement, not blanket suspicion. Similarly, Singh’s try and carry the caste angle into conversion is politically warped.
Eventually, the makers reveal their political place because the relentless damaging framing of a group results in endorsing extrajudicial demolitions or bulldozer justice as a satisfying, cathartic response, with a strident background music invoking Babur and Aurangzeb, to the alleged crimes dedicated by Muslim characters.
Watch it in case you are on the lookout for a lesson within the mechanics of divisive political narratives on display screen.
The Kerala Story 2 is at present working in theatres.
Published – February 28, 2026 08:09 pm IST
