‘The Kerala Story 1 & 2’: over rundvlees, gedwongen bekeringen en BJP-propaganda
De Indiase deelstaat Kerala staat bekend voor de progressieve seculiere en pluralistische vormgeving van haar beleid. De scholingsgraad is er zeer hoog en de tolerantie waarmee hindoes, moslims en christenen met elkaar omgaan is toonaangevend. Toch tracht het BJP-hindoefundamentalisme (vooral vanuit andere deelstaten) die harmonie te verstoren. Zo ging het ook bij de creatie van twee films: The Kerala Story (2023) en The Kerala Story Goes Beyond (2026).
De eerste film zou op waar gebeurde feiten zijn gebaseerd, wat een leugen was. 32.000 vrouwen uit Kerala zouden bekeerd en geronseld zijn door IS (terreurgroep Islamitische Staat). In werkelijkheid waren het er vier. In Kerala voelde men de film aan als een haatcampagne van de BJP om religieuze verdeeldheid te zaaien. De Bharatiya Janata-partij (BJP) is de hindoenationalistische politieke partij van de federale premier Narendra Modi.
De tweede film van 2026 wekte opnieuw ontzetting in Kerala. Scènes over gedwongen bekeringen en het eten van rundsvlees werden gezien als een bewuste provocatie om de harmonie van Kerala te verstoren. Wat de echte beweegredenen zijn, legt doctoraatsstudente Mariya Puthalath hieronder uit.
Kerala’s Beef and Porotta: Recipe for Resistance Against Propaganda
I was notified about the release of the trailer for the sequel to the controversial 2023 propaganda movie The Kerala Story when the comment boxes on my Instagram were flooded with recipes of beef. People were randomly posting about recipes of beef roast and explaining how beef with Porotta or even Puttu, Appam, or Pazhampori (banana fritters) are out-of-this-world delicacies.
So how did the trailer for a Hindi movie evoke Malayalees’ love for beef and suddenly unite them in the war zone of social media? To understand that, you need a deep understanding of the underlying politics that has been playing out in the country for the past decade.
And of a movie made on the basis of strategical propaganda, without a shred of evidence, in the name of a state that doesn’t align with the ruling party’s hateful political tactics at the centre. A movie made by a bunch of people who have nothing to do with the state in the first place.
Let’s examine the trailer titled The Kerala Story: Goes Beyond and what caused the sudden flooding of beef recipes in Kerala social media comment sections.
In one scene, a captive Hindu woman is force-fed beef by a group of Muslims after she declines it, saying, “I will die, but won’t eat beef.” Nobody in Kerala or anyone with minimum common sense supports force-feeding anyone anything.
The problem is that the filmmakers portrayed it as something that happens daily in Kerala, whereas in reality, there is not even one reported incident of it. This enraged the entire Kerala diaspora, prompting a sarcastic attacking mode. One of the trending comments was: “What they did in that particular scene is wrong. How can someone eat beef alone? Don’t they know that Porotta is mandatory? In its absence, at least they should have provided Pathiri, Appam, or Banana fritters.”
This is not merely about beef; it is a symbol of people’s fight against false narratives about the secularism and harmony of their state. Narratives that portray Kerala as a hotbed of communal strife, ignoring its longstanding tradition of religious coexistence, interfaith marriages by choice, and progressive social fabric.
And where beef is simply a celebrated culinary staple rather than a divisive object unlike some other states in the country. From the look of the teaser, it repeats the same ‘Love Jihad’ story but now cites events from different parts of India, shamelessly claiming the movie is based on real events, just like its prequel.
A bad movie by normal film standards
A prequel that won awards for Best Director and Best Cinematographer at the 71st National Film Awards-and whose director even had the audacity to lament that the female lead was robbed of the Best Actress award.
Even if you choose to ignore the propaganda, you don’t have to be a cinephile to understand that it’s a bad movie by normal film standards. On the technical side – the direction, acting, and cinematography can be called average at best. It received accolades only because it catered to the right-wing hate politics and strategies of the ruling party.
The movie faced strict backlash and intense trolling in Kerala but was a commercial success mainly in the northern states. It follows three girls in Kerala from other religions who are lured into love affairs by Muslim men who are part of a larger international terrorist network.
The female lead is brainwashed and converted to Islam. She then travels to Syria with her husband and baby and is eventually captured and trapped in a jail in Afghanistan – estranged from her child and unable to return.
The movie first claimed that around 32,000 women from Kerala were trapped in ‘Love Jihad’ and forced to convert and join terrorist groups. But in reality, there were only four women who converted (and those were not cases of forced conversion) and left the country to join ISIS.
They are currently believed to be in Taliban-run detention centres in Afghanistan. Petitions by their families to bring them back are not supported by the Indian government, which has officially refused to repatriate them, citing national security concerns and the fact that they were heavily radicalized. This is how they have been doing it with the numbers, exaggerating them beyond measure.
The concept of ‘Love Jihad’
Their main weapon in both movies is the concept of ‘Love Jihad.’ What is the reality of this phenomenon? The term first emerged in Kerala and Karnataka around 2007, circulating within regional groups and right-wing social media circles, where it was used to portray interfaith relationships as a strategic, organized effort to convert non-Muslim women to Islam.
It entered mainstream national discourse in 2009, when community organizations and media outlets in Kerala and Karnataka alleged that thousands of women were being trapped into conversion through marriage, often using the label ‘Romeo Jihad’ (used in earlier times) interchangeably with ‘Love Jihad.’
The resulting public alarm pressured the governments of Kerala and Karnataka to order police and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probes in 2009 to check for a coordinated racket. By 2012, however, both the Kerala Police and the Karnataka CID had officially informed their respective High Courts that they found no evidence of an organized, systematic movement or any structured recruitment network.
The most famous case aligned with this narrative came in 2016. Akhila Ashokan, 24-year-old homeopathic medical student from Kerala converted to Islam, adopting the name Hadiya, and married Shafin Jahan. Her father filed a habeas corpus petition alleging forced conversion. The Kerala High Court annulled her marriage, describing it as a sham, and placed her in her father’s custody.
The Supreme Court intervened in a petition filed by Shafin Jahan, directing the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe whether the case was part of a wider pattern.
In 2018, the Supreme Court restored the marriage, holding that an adult’s right to marry is a fundamental right. The NIA also closed its investigation into interfaith marriages in Kerala in 2018, noting common mentors in some cases but finding no prosecutable conspiracy or organized Love Jihad.
Government submissions made clear that the term ‘Love Jihad’ is not defined in any Indian law and no such cases have been reported by central agencies. And in 2020, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs [nvdr: het federale Indiase ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken] restated in Parliament that no case this nature has been reported by any of the central agencies.
This is the reality of the so-called phenomenon that they have been portraying as lethal to the Hindus of the country. It does not exist at all.
I am not saying there are no conversions. There is simply no evidence of manipulated or forced conversions. Personally, I am not in favour of religious conversion. I have no affinity towards it, especially when it is aligned solely for marriage.
But the truth is, my opinion as well as yours doesn’t weigh in another individual’s personal matters. If an adult wants to change their religion, India as a democratic country, allows that freedom. It is protected under Article 25, which guarantees the right to profess, practice, and propagate religion.
Article 21 also protects personal liberty and autonomy in such choices. These rights reflect India’s secular ethos. They prioritize individual choice over communal fears. Then who has the right to oppose or intervene?
In the trailer, they explicitly say that Indian Muslim men are plotting, and their target is the Eighty-five million Hindu girls of the country. It portrays this as a large network where a man gets millions for trapping and converting girls from other religions.
Now, for a second, think logically. Do you really believe that all those people are spending their time strategizing and manipulating to convert people from other religions? By saying this, you are also portraying the supposedly targeted girls as naïve, stupid, and without an identity of their own to fall into this trap.
My dear girls – they are not protecting you, saving you, or speaking for you. What they are doing is weaponizing you to create deep religious polarization, clothing it in a benevolent, sexist overcoat. This shows a deep patriarchal reflection of all religions. It is part of the broader system of oppression where women’s identities are reduced to that of merely being a man’s property or possession.
Where a group’s pride (whether caste, race, or religion) lies in a woman’s virginity and the notion of being ‘pure.’ You don’t see a Muslim woman trying to trap and convert a Hindu or Christian man. You wouldn’t. They will not put you in a position of power or authority. How can they show the men as naïve and dumb when they are supposed to be the ones protecting you?
Women will always be the innocent, and imbecilic prey who cannot protect themselves in these narratives. So, dear girls—not even for a second think that this is about you or to protect you. This might even push for creating and imposing more restrictive structures or systems of upbringing for girls belonging to the Hindu religion.
These are the facts, the numbers, and the evidence. But how many will look into these? How many will think rationally when it comes to sentiments like religion?
How will they react when the trailer starts with the statement that India will turn into an Islamic state in the next twenty-five years? They would believe the narrative that their religion is in danger and they need to act to save it.
Any religion or god that needs its disciples to save it is an irony in itself. But no disciple will have the rationality or reasoning left in them to understand this.
Pouring oil into the already boiling cauldron of hatred toward Muslims
Kerala rejected the first instalment and has harshly criticized the trailer of the second as well. But what are the reactions of people from other states, especially those geographically farther away and ruled by BJP?
A look at the comment section of the trailer will give you a reflection of what is happening. Among the countless beef recipes from Malayalees, there are comments saying: “This is the reality,” “Girls beware,” “We should protect our girls,” “I will definitely show this to my girls,” and “It should be promoted across all platforms to give awareness to youth,” etc.
Or if you look at how the first movie was received and appreciated in these states even though the makers were forced to change the exaggerated numbers to real ones, you will understand that it is working. The motive behind making and promoting these propaganda films is working. It is pouring oil into the already boiling cauldron of hatred toward Muslims and minorities in the country.
What can we do in such a bleak situation where the system that is supposed to protect the nation’s communal harmony is itself promoting strategies aimed at breaking it? Resist and protest.
Even in the darkest of times and even when it feels like nothing is possible – resist injustice. Resist lies. And that is exactly what Kerala did in the past week.
Apart from online trolls and discussions in digital spaces against the movie, they also moved legally. Several petitions have been filed in the Kerala High Court challenging the film, including Freddy V. Francis v. Union of India. Arguing that the title and promotional material propagate a false and communal narrative by associating terrorism, forced conversion, and demographic conspiracy exclusively with Kerala, even though the purported stories span multiple states.
Petitioners have sought the quashing of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate, a stay on the film’s release, and a change of title or insertion of disclaimers to prevent regional stigmatization and communal disharmony.
In response, the High Court issued notices to the film’s producers, the CBFC, and the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and, after hearing the parties, passed an interim order staying the release and public exhibition of the movie for fifteen days. What the final decision will be, we don’t know.
Maybe this ruling will be overturned by the apex court. Maybe this will be a big hit just like its predecessor and even bag accolades. At this point, we are not surprised by these happenings.
But resistance is not futile – it sows seeds of awareness that outlast any single film or verdict. Kerala’s response reminds us that truth, armed with facts and humour, can pierce through propaganda.
It challenges us all to question divisive narratives, celebrate our shared humanity, and uphold the constitutional values of liberty, equality, and fraternity that define India’s soul.
So, let us amplify these voices, from beef recipes to courtroom battles. In doing so, we not only defend a state’s honour but safeguard the fragile tapestry of national unity against those who seek to unravel it for political gain. The fight continues—not out of anger, but out of conviction in a pluralistic future.
Mariya Puthalath
Mariya Puthalath is een doctoraatstudente aan het Department of Social Work, van het Loyola College in Chennai, deelstaat Tamil Nadu, India.
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