Kozhikode, Kerala – A money reward of 10 million rupees ($1,22,280) has been introduced by a Muslim group in India’s Kerala state for offering proof of claims made in an Indian movie that 1000’s of Hindu and Christian ladies from the state had been recruited into the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

Members of the Muslim Youth League, affiliated with the opposition Indian Union Muslim League celebration, arrange what they name “evidence collection counters” in all 14 districts of Kerala on Thursday, a day earlier than the movie is because of be launched within the Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu languages.

According to the movie’s trailer on YouTube, The Kerala Story, produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, claims to depict the “lives of innocent girls trapped, transformed and trafficked for terror” from Kerala.

“A spine-chilling, never told before true story – revealing a dangerous conspiracy that has been hatched against India,” the textual content beneath the trailer says.

The filmmakers say the 138-minute movie is a “compilation of true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala”.

An earlier determine that was included within the textual content was that 32,000 women had been pressured to affix ISIL, a declare that’s being challenged by Muslim and different teams in addition to opposition political events in Kerala and different elements of India.

“If 32,000 Hindu girls have joined ISIS from the state, that amounts to 10 girls from every village in the state. How can anyone miss it?” Muslim Youth League basic secretary PK Firos requested.

What is the movie about?

Makers of the The Kerala Story allude to the Hindu right-wing conspiracy theory of “love jihad” to again up their claims within the movie. They say the movie exhibits true tales of a Muslim “love jihad” plot, through which non-Muslim women and girls are supposedly romanced, lured to transform to Islam by way of marriage after which pressured to join ISIL.

This plot is central to the movie regardless of India’s junior house minister telling parliament in 2020 that there isn’t any such factor as “love jihad” and authorities investigations have dismissed the allegations.

The filmmakers say the inspiration behind their movie is an actual lady named Nimisha, who transformed to Islam in 2015 and married Bestin Vincent, one other convert. The couple travelled to Afghanistan by way of Sri Lanka the subsequent 12 months to affix ISIL, in keeping with Indian officers.

In 2021, India declined to repatriate 4 Indians who had joined ISIL fighters in Afghanistan. Nimisha was amongst these searching for to return house after her husband was killed. Indian media experiences say she has a daughter and each are in an Afghan jail.

“Thousands of innocent women have been systematically converted, radicalised and their lives destroyed. It’s their side of the story,” the movie’s trailer on YouTube says. “The truth shall set us free!”

The movie’s director informed Al Jazeera he stands by his work and the declare that 32,000 women had been indoctrinated and recruited for ISIL. The newest trailer for the film revises that quantity to “thousands”.

“We have a humanitarian agenda,” Sen mentioned, including that he has proof to show his claims and the movie can be his reply to all of the criticism.

“We are not against a particular community,” Sen mentioned. “We are against terrorism, and we don’t believe terrorism has any religion. Our film had a Muslim scholar because we didn’t want to go wrong about presenting Islam. We had other Muslim crew members.”

Cash rewards for proof

But Firos of the Muslim Youth League informed Al Jazeera that the movie reinforces “Islamophobic tropes”.

“This is to tarnish the reputation of our state as well as the Muslim community,” he mentioned. “We felt that passing statements or issuing legal notice was not going to make a difference. We wanted people to make up their minds before watching the film.”

The Muslim Youth League is just not alone within the marketing campaign towards the movie.

Nazeer Hussain Kizhakkedathu, a local of Kerala who’s settled within the United States, additionally introduced a reward of 1 million rupees for proof relating to solely 10 women and girls – not 1000’s, as claimed by the movie – who had been forcibly transformed and made to affix ISIL. He inspired a lawyer good friend to supply one other 1.1 million Indian rupees for a reward.

“This is part of a cultural genocide. We know about Nazi Germany making such films before killing thousands of Jews,” Kizhakkedathu, 51, informed Al Jazeera.

The New Jersey-based software program engineer mentioned though he’s an atheist, his marriage to a Hindu lady may be thought of a case of “love jihad” if the movie’s premise is accepted with out scrutiny.

“Most of the Indian people who allegedly joined the ISIL are from Muslim families, so Muslims are the real victims here. The film erases their pain and vilifies them,” he informed Al Jazeera.

According to a US Department of State report in 2020, 66 fighters of Indian origin are identified to have joined ISIL. In 2021, India’s National Investigation Agency mentioned it was investigating 37 circumstances associated to Indians becoming a member of the group and had arrested 168 individuals.

‘Factory of lies’

The ruling communist coalition authorities in Kerala and opposition leaders are searching for motion towards the movie. State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on Facebook that the movie is an “attempt to spread hate propaganda” and threatened authorized motion towards the filmmakers.

“This bogus story is a product of the Sangh Parivar’s factory of lies,” he posted. “Justifying those who use cinema only to create division using the argument of freedom of expression is not right. Freedom of expression is not a licence to communalise this country, spread lies and divide people.”

Sangh Parivar refers to a group of Hindu nationalist teams led by the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Propaganda films and the othering of Muslims should be viewed in the context of various efforts made by the Sangh Parivar to gain an advantage in electoral politics in Kerala,” the chief minister wrote.

The BJP has thus far been unsuccessful in making important headway in Kerala, one in all India’s greatest ruled states the place energy oscillates between the left and the Indian National Congress celebration.

“[The film] is an insult to the women of the state,” VD Sadeeshan, Kerala’s opposition chief from the Congress celebration, informed Al Jazeera. “People who believe in rule of law, democracy and secularism won’t agree with the theme of this film.”

“Interfaith marriages are very common in Kerala. We are tolerant of such ideas. We are a progressive state,” Sadeeshan mentioned, including that the movie will instigate tensions in a “comparatively peace-loving state”.

According to the 2011 census, Kerala’a inhabitants is 54 p.c Hindu, 27 p.c Muslim and 18 p.c Christian, making it one of the crucial various Indian states.

Sen questioned the politicians accusing the movie of being a part of a “Sanghi [Sangh Parivar] agenda”.

“I will not dance to the tune of the politicians,” he informed Al Jazeera, refusing to reply to the money reward for proof. “We are talking about human tragedy. This is not a joke.”

Several petitions have been filed in India’s Supreme Court in addition to the Kerala High Court, searching for a keep on the discharge of the movie.

The Kerala Story obtained an “adult” certificates from India’s Central Board of Film Certification after the company really useful almost a dozen cuts and some modifications in dialogues, the filmmakers mentioned.

New development

Critics say The Kerala Story is a part of a brand new development in Indian cinema that seeks to amplify far-right Hindu narratives with little look after information. The development, they are saying, began after Modi got here to energy in 2014.

Last 12 months, a movie referred to as The Kashmir Files triggered controversy by claiming that 1000’s of Hindus had been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir, forcing their exodus from the valley when a rise up towards New Delhi’s rule within the nation’s solely Muslim-majority area began within the late Eighties.

According to official figures, 219 Hindus, often known as Pandits within the valley, had been killed because the rise up began. Still, the movie was praised by Modi as “backing facts” and plenty of BJP-ruled states awarded tax cuts to it.

Screenings of the movie noticed anti-Muslim hate speeches being made inside and out of doors theatres.

Incidentally, Sen was a part of the jury finally 12 months’s International Film Festival of India, whose chairman, Nadav Lapid, an Israeli filmmaker, slammed The Kashmir Files as “propaganda” and a “vulgar movie”. Sen later distanced himself from Lapid’s feedback.

“I don’t want to dignify this film [The Kerala Story] with a reaction,” movie critic Anna MM Vetticad informed Al Jazeera. Citing examples of comparable movies made in recent times, she condemned the “absolute bluntness” of Hindu supremacist propaganda in India.