'The Kerala Story' Director Sudipto Sen EXCLUSIVE: Those criticising without watching the film are hypocrites

'The Kerala Story' has been courting controversy ever since the first teaser of the film dropped. Closer to the release of the film on May 5, the voices of protest have grown louder; some terming it as propaganda aimed at defaming Kerala while others seeking a ban on the film citing threat over the alleged targetting of a particular community. Film Director Sudipto Sen, however, rubbishes all these allegations.

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Speaking to Asianet News, Sen said: "Every document about the claim that we have made in the film was being scrutinised for two months. They (Central Board of Film Certification) cleared the film after two months with few corrections. There were no cuts. They had a few requests, which we agreed. That's because, at the end of the day, we wanted to make the film for the country. Censor Board is the highest authority to decide what is good for the country as far as films are concerned. Our film has received Censor Board certification."

Watch the full interview below

One of the most controversial scenes in the film was the 2010 remark by former Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan who said that radical Islamic organisations are aiming to make Kerala a Muslim-majority state in the next 20 years. In the movie, a television presenter is seen stating that the 'former chief minister has said that in 20 years Kerala would become an Islamic State'. 

Talking about this controversy, Sudipto said: "There is a misconception in the social media. Nothing has been removed. There have been corrections that have been inserted in a way that the whole narrative of the film does not get changed. As far as the ex-chief minister  VS Achuthanandan's interview is concerned, it is footage from a television channel in Kerala. We took permission from them to use it even though the interview is very much on social media. We put that interview because he had made a very startling comment that 'in 20 years Kerala would become an Islamic State'. I don't think there can be a statement more alarming than this. In fact, our film is a take-off from VS Achuthanandan's comment. We travel 15 years since the statement to show exactly what the scene is on the ground."

Asked about the criticism over the claim made in 'The Kerala Story' about 32,000 girls going missing from Kerala, the film director said: "There are two things here. One is the word criticism. You can criticise something only when you have seen it. So without seeing a film if you criticise a film, it is the biggest hypocrisy you can think of." 

"As for where did we get the figure of 32,000, we have our own sources -- that is in the film and our documents. Whether we are right or wrong, we put a Right to Information request to the Kerala government. We got a reply. We were given a website address and told that we can find the information there. Can you believe that the website address was wrong? The website does not exist. In the same RTI, we asked how many girls were converted. How many of them disappeared? How many cases were registered? How many girls have been rescued? We were told that in 15 days, Kerala Police would be providing this data. It is more than 5-6 months, we still have not got a reply. We worked on this film for seven years. The (state) government did not provide us with information. So if I have claimed to cite my sources, and it has not been answered (by the government) in the right perspective, I have reason to believe that my number is right," he added.

At the same time, Sudipto said that the number is not an important aspect. "To us, even one girl who has suffered at the hands of these Islamic terrorists, who has been raped, manipulated, (forcibly) converted, I think the nation has to hang its head in shame."

• The Kerala Story
• Director Sudipto Sen