Kochi: ‘The Kerala Story’, helmed by Sudipto Sen, bagged the Best Director and Best Cinematography at the National Film Awards.
However, just as the movie attracted criticism from several quarters post its release in 2023 for the controversial depiction of women in Kerala allegedly being forced to convert and join the Islamic State, its moment of National glory has also been controversial.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed the jury’s decision to bestow national honours to the film, calling it “extremely unfortunate”, and an endorsement of efforts to use cinema to spread communal hatred.
“This is not just an insult to Kerala, but also to the cultural legacy of Indian cinema… It sends a message that art can be used to destroy secularism and promote communalism,” said the CM while speaking at the Kerala Film Policy Conclave in Thiruvananthapuram.
Advising the film fraternity to oppose such portrayals and remain alert to attempts to “misrepresent” the state and its culture, Vijayan also raised concerns over growing instances of violence, drug use and alcoholism being glorified in films.
“Scenes promoting drugs and alcohol should not just be removed from scripts, they should be eradicated from the industry,” the Kerala CM said, and urged cooperation from the film community to combat the issue.
Director responds
The director responding to the backlash by bringing up the reference of former Kerala CM VS Achuthanandan.
“Pinarayi sir is a seasoned politician with years of experience. I am not a politician and I am not entitled to comment on his comments. But the matter of fact is that his senior, VS Achuthanandan, who just passed away, I believe his soul will be very happy that we made a film on his comment that ‘Kerala is going the way of the ISIS’ and on his comment that ‘Kerala will be turned into an Islamic state’,” Sen remarked.
He elaborated that Vijayan had backed Achuthanandan’s controversial statements at the time. “Pinarayi, who was his deputy at the time, supported him when VS Achuthanandan was getting criticism from many places. So, I don’t know… when politicians speak, nobody should speak in response to that because politics is their way of life, what they do for their own living and survival. I am not a politician, I am a filmmaker.”
Defending his film, Sen said: “I know I worked hard, my team worked hard for 10-12 years. I stand by every word spoken in my film, every visual shown in the film. After two months of scrutiny, the censor board approved every scene of my film. Not a single cut has been inflicted on the film. I think our conviction is being vindicated.”