Kamala Das biopic Aami runs into rough weather; plea filed in Kerala HC claims film promotes 'love jihad'

A petition was filed in the Kerala High Court alleging that Kamal-directed Malayalam film Aami based on controversial writer late Madhavikutty, was sending a message favouring ’love jihad’. Madhavikutty had converted to Islam and took the name of Kamala Suraiya. [caption id=“attachment_4330397” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kamala Das. Image from Twitter/@iamreha29[/caption] In his petition, lawyer K P Ramachandran sought a direction to the CBFC to ensure that the upcoming movie would be certified only after making sure that it picturised the real life of Madhavikutty. “The film (Aami) was directed by omitting the real life incidents of Madhavikutty, with a view to justify love jihad. Such a film comes to the fore in the wake of such cases (of love jihad) pending before the apex court and the NIA investigating such cases,” the petition said. Many so-called ’love jihad’ cases have been reported from the southern state. The latest in the row is the case of a 25-year-old Gujarat-based Malayali woman who has accused a man of forcible conversion and attempting to sell her off to ISIS terrorists in Saudi Arabia. Ramachandran argued that Kamal, director of the film, is often depicted as pro-radical faction of the Islamic society. “The conversion of Madhavikutty into Islam was the beginning of love jihad in Kerala. Love jihad is the grave menace the society faces in the southern state today,” he alleged. “Now the well oiled machineries are working for meeting the said end.” The film Aami is intended to be a catalytic agent for the said process," Ramachandran said. The petitioner also alleged that the movie was made to rewrite the history and twist the narrative according to the director’s whims and fancies under the guise of freedom of expression. Even if Aami is exhibited in cinema theatres, the wrong and contradictory picturisation of Madhavikutty and justifying the forceful religious conversion would certainly inject a wrong message into the minds of audiences, he added. Aami is based on the autobiography of Kamala Surayya, Ente Katha (My Story). She wrote under a pseudonym Kamala Das in English.