The Kerala Story directed by Sudipto Sen caught the attention of all with the sensational teasers and trailers. The film starring Adah Sharma in the lead touched upon the highly controversial topic of a few Hindu women converted in Kerala and turned into terrorists in ISIS. It talked about the Love Jihad angle and this increased tempers across the country. When the makers claimed that the story was about the plight of 32000 missing women from Kerala, the political parties and NGOs blasted them for showing Kerala in a bad light. The makers to support their facts even included the previous CM VS.Achuthanandan. However with the censor board acting tough, the makers deleted the former CM's statement and even changed the 32000 missing women to 3 women. However, the film was banned in Kerala and many other states. The film is getting all the media and international attention with even PM Modi talking about it during his election campaigning in Karnataka. Let us see what really Kerala Story is all about and whether there is any controversial element in it.
The Kerala Story is all about the happenings in the state of Kerala, God's Own Country a few years back when it was found that a few Hindu women were converted to Islam forcibly and were sent to Syria, Pakistan , Afghanistan and other countries to train them as terrorists by the dreaded terrorist organization ISIS.
Shalini (Adah Sharma) meets Geetanjali (Siddhi Idnani), Nimah (Yogita Bihani), and Asifa (Sonia Balani) as she was assigned their room when she goes to pursue her Nursing degree. Shalini's happy life takes a drastic turn and she reaches a point of no return as she faces herself fighting against the entire world.
To find out the shocking developments in Shalini's life, why her life turned from hell to heaven, and how Geetanjali (Siddhi Idnani), Nimah (Yogita Bihani), Asifa (Sonia Balani) connected should be unraveled on the screen watching the Kerala Story.
Adah Sharma surprises with her performance in the film. She lived in her role and showed variations in her expressions and emotions. She even delivered dialogues in a Malayalee accent and did a commendable job. She surprises with her variations as a young and bubbly girl, then falling in love, and then undergoing mental agony and trauma with the shocking happenings in her life.
Newcomers Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani proved that given a chance they can perform well showcasing their acting talent. Others like Vijay Krishna, Pranavv Misshra, and Pranav Pachauri performed according to their roles.
The Kerala Story by Sudipto Sen is a hard-hitting film and it obviously ruffles the feathers of one particular community. Sudipto Sen starts the narration in an interesting way with the interrogation scenes and then he shows the hostel scenes in a realistic and natural manner. However, at times, these scenes lacked the intensity thus testing the patience of the viewers.
Sudipto Sen in trying to be more realistic at times turned the narration into a docu-drama. At times, he took many cinematic liberties and one gets a feeling that he exaggerated the scenes. He should have worked more on the screenplay and direction. Dialogues are powerful and hard hitting. He highlighted the vulnerability of one particular religion, how others are getting brainwashed in an interesting manner.
Sanjay Sharma's editing could have been sleeker. There are a few scenes that slowed the pace of the film. The music of Veeresh Sreevasla and Bikash Jyothi is ok but he elevated the scenes with his background music. However at times, it turned out to be loud, and at times, he failed to elevate the all-important scenes and this reduced the intensity levels. Prasantanu Mohaptra's cinematography gave a realistic feel to the film.
The Kerala Story is a hard-hitting and horrifying film. Sudipto Sen through Adah Sharma highlighted the happens in a few places in the state and stressed the need to prevent them in the future. One may disagree with the number of women missing, but even one girl shouldn't undergo such a brutal experience.
Sudipto Sen's story is realistic and powerful but at times faltered with the screenplay and direction. Had he tightened the screenplay and direction Kerala Story would have created a more stunning impact. People may take sides conveniently for and against the film, but one cannot turn a blind eye to the happenings and the sinister design of the iSIS.Considering all these aspects, Cinejosh goes with a 2.5 Rating for The Kerala Story.