Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in found the raison d'être of the film to lie in propagating Islamophobia, with every Muslim character being coded as a fanatic.Read at source
The Kerala Story 2023 
Synopsis
The Kerala Story
The Kerala Story is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It stars Adah Sharma, Siddhi Idnani, Yogita Bihani and Sonia Balani. The plot follows a group of women from Kerala who are coerced into converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State. Marketed as a true story, the film is premised on the Hindutva theory of "love jihad", and claims that thousands of Hindu women from Kerala have been converted to Islam and recruited in the Islamic State. However, the filmmakers had to accept the addition of two disclaimers – that the figures in the film were inauthentic, and that the film was a "fictionalised" depiction of events.
- Director
- Sudipto Sen
- Release
- 5 May 2023
- Studio
- Sunshine Pictures
- Run time
- 138 min
- Language
- Hindi
Reviews
5 Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.
Critics' consensus
Unfavorable
Critics' aggregate for The Kerala Story is 15/100 from Saibal Chatterjee (NDTV) and Shubhra Gupta (The Indian Express) and Rotten Tomatoes.
Synthesized by AI (gpt-5-codex-omdb-enricher) from 7 source-backed reviews — verify against the linked sources.Watch points
- writing
Positive 1
Critical 4
Anuj Kumar of The Hindu described the work as "burlesque" propaganda that borrowed its understanding of Islam, from "hate-filled Whatsapp groups" and sought to turn the audience into purveyors of hate by peddling "half-truths".Read at source
Deepanjana Pal, reviewing for Film Companion, commented that the film was a "Giant Whatsapp forward" that could be hardly called a film, critiquing it for being political propaganda aimed at demonising Keralite Muslims and tapping into contemporary Hindu nationalist anxieties; Sen was "glaringly inept" in tackling the causes of radicalisation with sensitivity and merely preyed upon the grief of real survivors and victims.Read at source
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 0.5 out of 5 stars, calling it a "lengthy WhatsApp forward", and writing that Sen's work was laughably inept and in pursuance of an insidious agenda.Read at source
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, characterising it as a "poorly-made, poorly-acted rant" that flattened Muslims into absolute evils.Read at source
Media & trailers
Verified video records attached to this title.
Details
Soundtrack
- Pagal Parindey Sunidhi Chauhan, Bishakh Jyoti
- Ambo Ambambo Athul Narukara
- Athira Ravil K. S. Chithra
- Tu Mila K. S. Chithra
- Aakhir Kyun Bishakh Jyoti
- Aakhir Kyun Unplugged Bishakh Jyoti
Technical specs
- Release date
- 5 May 2023
- Run time
- 138 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- IN
- Director
- Sudipto Sen
- Studio
- Sunshine Pictures
- Budget
- ₹15–20 crore
- Distributor
- ₹303.97 crore
Trivia
- The film stars Adah Sharma, Siddhi Idnani, Yogita Bihani, and Sonia Balani in lead roles.
- The Kerala Story released in theatres on 5 May 2023 and became the ninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023 with a worldwide gross of ₹303.97 crore.
- The film was heavily promoted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as part of its campaigning for the 2023 Karnataka assembly election.
- At the 71st National Film Awards, The Kerala Story won awards for Best Direction and Best Cinematography.
- The digital streaming rights were purchased by ZEE5, and the film began streaming on the platform from 16 February 2024.
- The film received an adults only classification from the CBFC following a number of requested changes prior to its domestic release.
Tags
Hindi Cinema2023Hindi FilmReleasedHindi
