Main akeli nahi hoon iss game mein …mere jaise hazaron ladkiyan hain..jo apne ghar se bhagkar iss registaan mein dafan ho chuki hain.
– Adah Sharma (The Kerela Story)
The Kerala Story is a 2023 Hindi-language drama film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani feature in the film. The plot concerns a group of Kerala women who convert to Islam and join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The film is based on the “love jihad” conspiracy theory, and it falsely claims that hundreds of Kerala women are being converted to Islam and recruited into ISIS.
The plot centres around Shalini Unnikrishnan, a Muslim convert who tells her tragic path of aspiring to be a nurse only to be kidnapped and coerced by extremist groups. She was eventually duped into joining ISIS and is currently imprisoned in Afghanistan.
Recently the Kerela story is one of the most talked about films in the country and has raised many perspectives from all aspects. However, the most important is that of a woman.
The story is awe-inspiring and emotional: depicting the struggle of these women coerced to convert to Islam, along with being eye-opening to all women out there despite their caste, creed, and religion, to look out for themselves and each other. The story brings to light the problems faced by women in the state as well as the country to some extent and the lack of actions taken by the authority. It is important that women realise that self-defence, mental or physical, is not just a set of techniques; it’s a state of mind, and it begins with the belief that you are worth fighting. Being naive is no longer an option and it’s time that women start helping each other up the ladder of life instead of pulling the other down.
