‘An Attempt To Destroy Secularism:’ Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s Dig At The Kerala Story – News18

The 53rd Kerala State Film Awards 2022 were presented on Thursday (September 14) at the Nishaganshi Auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram. The awards were presented by the state’s Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, along with State Culture Minister Saji Cherian. The awardees included celebrities like Mammootty, Vincy Aloshious, Lijo Jose Pellissery, Kunchacko Boban, Mahesh Narayanan and others. After the felicitation ceremony, during his speech, Pinarayi Vijayan called out the efforts by “certain forces at the national level to spread disinformation and ill-will”. Pinarayi Vijayan said that attempts are being made to revive social evils such as casteism and feudalism. Taking an indirect jibe at the film The Kerala Story, which was directed by Sudipto Sen and featured Adah Sharma in the lead, the CM said: “A film was circulated, which told the story of Kerala. It was an attempt to destroy the state’s secularism and make it appear as a land of love jihad in front of the world. These movies are used as a weapon for propaganda”.

“The strides made by women are being trampled upon with the focus these days being male-dominant themes. There are also efforts to suppress renaissance values, which united people,” said Pinarayi Vijayan. While condemning the controversial film, he added that it was an attempt to show the state in a bad light.

This is not the first time Pinarayi Vijayan has hit out at the controversial film. Before the film was released, he called the film’s story bogus and a product of the Sangha Parivar’s lie factory. “It is not a licence to spread lies and communalism and divide the people in the state,” he had said in an interview.

The Kerala Story, written and directed by Sudipto Sen, is about a group of women from Kerala who were converted to Islam and sent to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The film minted a lifetime collection of Rs 242.20 crore.