Amid controversy, The Kerala Story trailer altered from being the ‘story of 32,000 women’ to that of 3 women; Shashi Tharoor says ‘I rest my case’

The trailer for the controversial upcoming film The Kerala Story has been altered. While it originally suggested that the film is based on the stories of over 30,000 women from Kerala, it now claims to be based on the stories of three women.

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The Kerala Story claims to portray the tale of some women from the state who converted to Islam and were recruited to the terror outfit ISIS. (Express Photo)

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Amid backlash for its factual inaccuracies, the trailer for the controversial upcoming film The Kerala Story has been altered. While the trailer originally suggested that the film is based on the stories of more than 32,000 Kerala women who’d allegedly been radicalised by Islamic fundamentalists, the revised version of the trailer description on YouTube says that the film is based on the “true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala.”

This comes after MP Shashi Tharoor and several others had raised questions about the mistruths being touted by the film and its filmmakers — director Sudipto Sen and ‘creative director’ and producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah. Tharoor reacted to the change, and wrote on Twitter, “The plot thickens. The filmmakers have updated the movie’s description on YouTube and changed ‘32,000 women’ to ‘3 women’… I rest my case.”

Also read | How accurate are the claims made by ‘The Kerala Story’?

Previously, Tharoor had questioned claims that the film is based on the “heart-breaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala”. The film also created a political controversy, with Kerala Congress leader MM Hassan calling for a ban on the movie, on the grounds that it could create communal disharmony. CM Pinarayi Vijayan accused the filmmakers of spreading propaganda.

. The plot thickens. The filmmakers have updated the movie’s description on YouTube and changed ‘32,000 women’ to ‘3 women’. Earlier, they said the movie is about the “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females in Kerala”. Now it says: “The Kerala Story is a…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 2, 2023

After claiming initially that the film is based on thousands of cases of missing women being radicalised, the filmmakers earlier this week asked why the figures even matter. In an interaction with ANI, they asked if the situation would be less grave if it concerned only 100 women. Last evening, Sen attended a screening of the film at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, where he said that it is based on the story of ‘three girls’. The screening was met with protests by a certain section of students.

The Kerala Story stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani. The film is scheduled to be released in theatres this Friday.

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