'The Kerala Story 2' producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah says 'Not showing people of Kerala in a negative light' amid film's stay by state's High Court

Producer Vipul Shah on Friday said “The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond” does not portray Kerala or its people in a negative light, hours after the Kerala High Court paved the way for the film’s release.

A division bench of justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and P V Balakrishnan stayed a single judge’s order that had put the film’s screening on hold for 15 days. The bench passed the interim order on an appeal moved by Shah late Thursday night, shortly after the stay on the movie’s release was granted.

Addressing a press conference shortly after the Kerala High Court order, Shah, who has co-written and produced the film under his banner Sunshine Pictures, said the film has been made with a lot of hard work and honesty.

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“Neither our film, nor me, my crew members are against the state of Kerala, its God’s own country. It’s a beautiful and wonderful (state), but if something wrong is happening over there then I’m just bringing it out to people’s notice. Once you watch the film, you will see that we’ve not said anything negative about Kerala or the people of Kerala," Shah told reporters.

According to the producer, the movie on religious conversion exposes a “few criminals who are from Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan”.

“Hence the movie is titled ‘The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond’. We are not trying to defame or are showing Kerala and people of Kerala in a negative light,” Shah told reporters here, adding that their film is not going to damage the culturally rich state.

The trailer of the Hindi film, directed by Kamakhya Narain Singh, came out earlier this month and courted a major controversy, much like its 2023 predecessor, with many on social media and political circles calling it hate propaganda.

The movie tracks the stories of three Hindu women from three different states going against their families to marry Muslim men and then being forced to convert.

It was set to release Friday, and the morning shows for the movie were cancelled due to the court order, but the shows and bookings have been opened up.     “I was not even present in the hearing. I was in public, but what I do understand is that our stand was convincing enough for the honourable judge to revoke the ban. I would love to read the order to understand but it has just arrived. It’s a long order for me to read, so I’ll take some time to read it. They were convinced that what our side was saying was the legally correct side,” Shah said.

Speaking about filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who has criticised the movie “ The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond”, calling it a propaganda film that tries to divide people and spread hatred, Shah questioned the director’s credibility.

“I don’t want to make any personal comments on Anurag Kashyap. It is his opinion. My director had made a valid point about Anurag, who has made ‘The Girl in Yellow Boots’, where an inappropriate relationship between a father and his daughter was portrayed.

“So, can his opinions be taken seriously on a topic like this? This is the question my director Kamakya had raised. I was hoping that he would give a reply but he hasn’t. We are hoping he will say something in the next few days.” Shah alleged that there’s a “lobby” that has been actively targeting them.

“They (lobby) fought a lot with us even during part one, this time too they have the same approach. On Twitter, people from all over India speak in favour of the film but the opposition is only from Kerala, more than 80 per cent of the opposition comes from Kerala.

“Their argument is that there are no love-jihad stories in Kerala and what we are showing is a lie, whereas the reality is that there are most talked about stories on the social media over there. So, we’re not saying anything that’s wrong.” The first film, titled “The Kerala Story”, was directed by Sudipto Sen and earned over Rs 300 crore despite being banned in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Besides, it won the National Film Award for best direction for Sen and best cinematography.

The sequel stars Ulka Gupta, Aditi Bhatia and Aishwarya Ojha.