Teaser of ‘The Kerala Story’ movie shared as real - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 8, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it shows the visuals of a Kerala woman narrating her heart-wrenching story of being forcibly converted to Islam and later radicalised to join the ISIS terrorist group. The burqa-clad woman in the video says, “My name was Shalini Unnikrishnan. I wanted to be a nurse to serve humanity. Today I am Fatima Ba. An ISIS terrorist in Afghanistan jail.  I am not alone. Like me there are 32000 girls who are already converted and buried in the deserts of Syria and Yemen. A deadly game is being played to convert normal girls into dreaded terrorists in Kerala, and that too in open. Is there anybody to stop them. This is my story. This is the story of those 32,000 girls. This is the Kerala story.” This post claims that 32,000 girls from Kerala were being forcibly converted to Islam and radicalised to join ISIS terrorist group. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a Kerala woman explaining her tragic story of being forcibly converted to Islam and radicalised to join the ISIS terrorist group.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows a clip from the teaser of the upcoming film, ‘The Kerala Story’. Sudipto Sen-directed ‘The Kerala Story’ movie depicts the radicalisation of 32,000 Kerala women to the ISIS terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria. Actor Adah Sharma, who portrayed the burqa-clad woman character in the video clip, shared the teaser of ‘The Kerala Story’ on all her official social media handles. The video does not show a real video clip of a radicalised Kerala woman. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On observing the video carefully, one could see the watermark ‘The Kerala Story’ at the end of the video. When we searched for the video using relevant keywords on the internet, we found similar visuals in a recently released teaser of the upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story’. The Sun Shine Pictures published this teaser stating it to be a movie made about the stories of 32,000 females in Kerala.
As per the film makers, Sudipto Sen-directed ‘The Kerala Story’ depicts the story of 32,000 Kerala women who were allegedly converted to Islam and radicalised to join the ISIS terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria. Actor Adah Sharma, who portrayed the burqa-clad woman in the teaser, shared ‘The Kerala Story’ teaser on all of her social media handles.
Following the release of ‘The Kerala Story’ teaser on 03 November 2022, there was controversy on social media. A few journalists and Hindu activists reacted to the teaser and said the film was factually incorrect. Aravindakshan BR, a Tamil Nadu-based journalist filed a petition with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), seeking a ban on ‘The Kerala Story’ movie unless the makers confirm the veracity of claims made in the movie. Aravindakshan had even written a letter to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan seeking a thorough investigation to check the veracity of the claims made by ‘The Kerala Story’ movie makers. Reacting to ‘The Kerala Story’ teaser, a Hindu activist named Rahul Eshwar tweeted– “Kerala is 1 of the best states in India with great progress in Education, Health, Infrastructure from times of Royal era & later Reformers age. ~100 people joined #ISIS from #Kerala. Even 1 person joining Terror is frightening & shameful. But 32,000 is a BIG LIE.”
To sum it up, a video clip from ‘The Kerala Story’ teaser is shared as visuals of a Kerala woman narrating her heart-wrenching story of being forcefully radicalised to ISIS.