The Kerala Story film has been issued an ‘A’ certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), aka the censor board. CBFC has reportedly ordered the makers to delete and/or tweak ten scenes from the film that included an interview with a former Kerala Chief Minister who is supposed to be the Communist leader VS Achuthanandan.
Deletions from "The Kerala Story" movie by the Censor Board:
— The Voice Of Citizens®️ (@tVoiceOfCitizen) May 1, 2023
Point 2 – Deleted the dialogue referring to the Communist Party leaders not following any puja rituals.
Point 7 – Deleted the ENTIRE interview of the ex-CM of Kerala, at the end of the film.
Kerala CM Pinarayi… pic.twitter.com/lNQTYvzs3a
Reportedly, in the interview, the former CM of Kerala stated that the state would become a Muslim-majority state in the next two decades. He had said that the youngsters in the state were being influenced to convert to Islam. The censor board has ordered to remove the interview of the former CM that was at the end of the film and ran for 26 seconds.
As per reports, the other scenes that CBFC has removed include ‘dialogues and inappropriate references to all Hindu Gods’. Some dialogues have been ordered to be changed. A dialogue in the film noted, “Indian Communists are biggest hypocrites”. The word “Indian” has been asked to be removed from the dialogue.
There was some information mentioned about Rameez and Abdul at the end of the film that has to be modified as per the board. Furthermore, the word ‘randiyaan’ has been ordered to be replaced with ‘sex slaves’.
Reports suggest that the CBFC Examining Committee has asked the film’s makers to submit documents that point toward the figures mentioned in the teaser.
The controversy around The Kerala Story
The teaser of the film ‘The Kerala Story’ was released in November 2022. Since then, the movie has sparked controversy over the claim that 32,000 women from Kerala have been recruited by the Islamic State (IS) terror group. The Kerala government and opposition leaders have demanded a ban on the film.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has jumped into the controversy labeling the movie as ‘communal polarisation.’ The Kerala CM also dragged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) into the controversy and accused the film of propagating the organisation’s agenda in Kerala.
“The trailer of the Hindi film which appears to have been deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala was released last day. It is indicated from the trailer that this film is trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar, which has established itself as the centre of religious extremism in the land of secularism,” he was quoted slamming the film asserted to be based on true events.
Furthermore, The Muslim Youth League has announced an award of Rs 1 crore for anyone who proves that the IS radicalised 32,000 Malayali women. Interestingly, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor shared the poster of the announcement on social media.
Now there’s an opportunity for all those hyping the alleged conversions of 32,000 women on Kerala to Islamism — to prove their case and make some money. Will they be up to the challenge or is there simply no proof because none exists? #NotOurKeralaStory pic.twitter.com/SrwaMx556H
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 1, 2023
Sudipto Sen, in a tweet, has urged the people of Kerala to watch The Kerala Story and only then react to it. He also offered debate on the content of the film and said his team worked for seven years on the topic.
The film is set for a theatrical release on May 5.
