“THE Kerala Story”, the hotly debated film on conversion, was at the centre of national discourse on Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi crediting it for bringing out terror conspiracies and using it to attack the Congress during a rally in Karnataka. As the multilingual film premiered across theatres to mixed reviews, polarising audience reactions and protests in some places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Kerala High Court refused to stay the release and said the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole. In a rally in Ballari in poll-bound Karnataka, the Prime Minister said, “Such a beautiful State of the country, where people are hardworking and talented. The ‘Kerala Story’ film brings out terror conspiracies happening in that State.”

“It is unfortunate that Congress can be seen standing with this terror trend that is seeking to ruin the country. Congress is even indulging in backdoor political bargaining with people having terror inclinations. People of Karnataka should be cautious about Congress,” Modi added about the Opposition party in Karnataka that votes for a new Assembly on May 10. The film, which revolves around a group of women in Kerala who are forced to convert and join the ISIS, was in the news for much of the day -- as it has been since its trailer released about a week ago. The film, starring Adah Sharma, written and directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Shah, was screened in theatres across the State on the first day of its release. The filmmakers claim it is a compilation of the true stories of 3 young women from the State.

Kerala’s ruling CPI(M) and Opposition Congress have said the film falsely claims that 32,000 women got converted and radicalised and were deployed in terror missions both in India and the world. According to the Kerala High Court, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has examined the movie and found it suitable for public exhibition.

A bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas noted the submission made by the producers that they do not intend to retain an “offending teaser” which contained a statement that “32,000 women” from Kerala were converted and joined a terrorist organisation. The court also noted that the producers have published a disclaimer along with the movie that the film is a dramatised version of events and doesn’t claim accuracy or factuality of historic events.