The Kerala Story director Sudipto Sen reacts to audience response to film, says 'same people are showering praises'

Vipul Amrutlal Shah-backed The Kerala Story has taken the viewers and trade pundits by surprise. Amid the controversies, the film managed to open more than the expectation, and it has also beaten the opening of Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 in India. The Kerala Story is directed by Sudipto Sen, and the filmmaker is elated with the response to the film. 

While speaking to Etimes, Sudipto revealed that he has spent seven years of research in making the film, he has recorded hundreds of hours of video testimony, with hundreds of pages of documents collected around the world. Before the release, several people compared the film with Vivek Agnihotri's The Kashmir Files. When Sen was asked to comment on the comparison, he stated that "The comparison is just stupidity. I started working on the subject much before The Kashmir Files. My film belongs to a different genre...it has a completely different narrative." 

Sharing his views on the audience response to The Kerala Story, Sudipto said, "When the teaser and later when the trailer of our film released, many thought it is 'anti-Islam.' So many jumped on and started shouting and abusing us. Now, the film is released and the same people are watching the film and the same people are showering praise on us." Sen advised the audience to watch the film and then judge it. 

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi supported The Kerala Story. In a video from the rally shared by news agency ANI, the PM said, "There is a lot of talk about The Kerala Story these days. They say the film is based on terrorists’ nefarious plots for just one state. This film exposes terrorists' designs for such a beautiful state with hardworking and talented people. It shows the ugly truth of terrorism. It is the misfortune of this country that Congress is opposing the film made on terrorism and standing with terror tendencies. Congress has shielded terrorism for the vote bank.”

The Kerala Story stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani. The film focuses on three women from Kerala who are brainwashed into converting to Islam by ISIS. The film claims to be based on real events and the makers’ claim that this is the story of 32,000 such women has caused major controversy.