The launch of the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ has put the cat amongst the pigeons not only in India, but right across the globe.
The movie follows the story of three young girls from different parts of Kerala and their life experience of being converted to Islam. The primary focus is on Shalini, who is abducted and subsequently converted to Islam. She is then radicalized. and compelled to join ISIS as a terrorist.
The movie exposes how Islamists use various techniques to lure vulnerable girls and young women into their network of conversion. And whilst this movie reflects the experiences of girls from India, this phenomenon is a lot more widespread across the world than many people might have realised.
The director has shown the depravation of these Islamists who use violence and sexual abuse as a tool for exploitation and control. Nothing is beyond them, and in their own words, it is for their faith.
Of course, one of the most famous cases for the UK was Shamima Begum who with her two friends travelled to Syria to join ISIS. They became known as the Bethnal Green trio. In this case, she was a Muslim who was groomed and radicalised.
At this point any sane person would have thought that such a movie was a must see. It exposes the methods Islamists use in grooming, forcing conversion, and how sexual exploitation and violence is used for control and to radicalise. The issue arises right across the world and therefore one would have thought that protecting vulnerable girls and young women would be one of the highest priorities for everyone. However, this is not necessarily true. What we have witnessed is the inhumanity of some people, some politicians and even censor boards in wanting to appease to the Islamists, rather than protecting our girls.
Take for instance the stand of CM of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, who had banned the movie. We ended up with the fiasco that in some states in India one could watch the movie that was made in India, but not in other states. Local politicians played the politics of appeasement to ban the movie. Fortunately, the Supreme Court had a bit more sense and lifted the ban.
In the UK we ended up with a delay before the movie was given an 18 certification. It created a huge outcry, but in my view the error rests partially with the distributor. Logic tells me that if I was going to show it on the 12th of May, then at least the certification process should have started a few weeks prior. Sufficient time had not been allocated for this and inevitably it led to a lot of confusion. The British Board of Film Certification might have been playing for time, but in the end, they did give it a certification and as far as I know, without any cuts. One of the very few places in the world where you can see the full movie as it was made by its director.
The movie will be shown in more than 30 locations throughout the UK. Unfortunately, in Birmingham the well-known extremist and Islamist sympathiser Shakeel Afsar screamed all sorts of accusations at the peaceful audience. This is the same chap who was found to be on the streets of Leicester when Hindus suffered attacks from Islamists. Again, as far as I know the police have taken no action against this miscreant who disturbed public peace and order, and terrorised the audience with his hateful outburst.
The world is now at the crossroads of its own humanity. Nation after nation has fallen foul of Islamists who commit the crime, and then hide behind the rhetoric of being victims of Islamophobia. We have now reached the stage where extremists and Islamists are objecting to the voice of victims from coming out. And we have got mainstream politicians across the globe pandering to their wishes.
We have lost sight of the victims, be they of Pakistani grooming gangs, the Yazidi survivors of genocide and sexual enslavement, the persecution of the Hazara community, the genocide of the true Kashmiris, the violation of girls by Boko Haram, and the list goes on. The world is decaying into a cesspit of its own cowardice to stand up for truth and justice.
I guess the silver lining being the movie is making huge profits right across the world. The Islamists and their appeasers in their attempt to ban the movie, have given it the best publicity possible. I can’t wait for the next movie, the Bengal Files. Wonder who will want to see it banned!
