The Kerala Story | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Sudipto Sen |
Written by |
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Produced by | Vipul Amrutlal Shah |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Prasantanu Mohapatra |
Edited by | Sanjay Sharma |
Music by |
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Production company | Sunshine Pictures[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 138 minutes[2] |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Budget | ₹15–20 crore[3] |
Box office | est. ₹303.97 crore[4] |
The Kerala Story is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah.[1] It stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani. The plot follows a group of women from Kerala who are coerced into converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State.[5][6] Marketed as a true story, the film is premised on the Hindutva conspiracy theory of "love jihad",[7] and falsely claims that thousands of Hindu women from Kerala have been converted to Islam and recruited in the Islamic State.[8][9]
The Kerala Story released in theatres on 5 May 2023. With a worldwide gross of ₹303.97 crore (US$36 million), it became the ninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023.[10][11] It was heavily promoted by the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leveraged the film in its campaigning for the Karnataka assembly election.[12][13] However, film critics accorded it overwhelmingly negative reviews, characterising the work as Islamophobic propaganda.[14][15][6] The film has also faced protracted litigation and protests, primarily in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
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