“Kerala Story may come and go, but the topic should remain at the centre of nation’s conversations’: Producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 17 (ANI): Producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah hailed the audience for showering love on ‘The Kerala Story’ and he felt that the audience gave the answer against the alleged ‘propaganda’ tag that has been thrust upon the movie by a certain section of people.

Vipul spoke at length at the press conference of ‘The Kerala Story’ in Mumbai, which was attended by the director Sudipto Sen and the lead cast of the movie Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani.

Vipul said, “The way the journey started and the point it reached, it’s a long one. But the journey is still not over. The audience watched the movie and I feel, they have given answers to all those tags labelled against the movie. Our commitment didn’t end with the making of the movie. We are also committed toward the girls, who were trapped in this vicious net.”

At the press conference, the ‘victims’, on whose plight, the movie is based, also spoke about their lived experiences.

Vipul also urged every citizen of the country to watch this movie with their families. The producer said, “It’s not the story of these three Kerala girls. This thing is going on in the entire country. It’s our responsibility to watch this movie and be a voice of these women.”

Vipul said it was his ‘duty’ to make this film. “When Sudiptoda came to me with the script, I felt compelled towards the subject. We knew all the challenges coming our way. We knew it would be labelled as a ‘propaganda’ movie. But that did not deter us from making a movie, which is so humane and right.”

Vipul added the fact that he and Sudipto (Sen) got emotional as the nation has to be woken up with such a film. “We all knew what we were getting into. These girls knew what troubles would come their way. But at least, the nation has started to talk about it. Forget ‘The Kerala Story’, it may come, it may go. But this topic should not go. This topic should remain at the centre of the nation’s conversation. That’s important.”

Vipul also addressed the issue of portraying people from a particular community as ‘villains’ in the movie. He cited the examples of ‘Sholay’ and ‘Singham 2’ to drive his point home. “Sholay mein Gabbar Singh villain tha. Toh Rameshji (Sippy) toh Singh community ke against nehi the. (Gabbar Singh was the villain in Sholay. So Rameshji was not against the Singh community. In ‘Singham 2’, a priest was a villain. Then we did not raise the question of whether all Hindu saints were portrayed in a bad light. In each movie, the villain belongs to a particular community or religion. But we did not ask questions about it. Then why we are raising questions here? In this movie, few characters are shown as terrorists only.”

About the movie’s screening in Britain, Vipul said, “Britain’s censor certification agency had to give the certificate yesterday. There was a lot of public pressure there. Some political elements were trying to stop the film illegally…Whatever was happening was political. The British censor board had to give in before the public pressure…The film is being screened in the UK from today”

Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film which was released last week in theatres has triggered a massive political row with various leaders reacting to the upcoming movie.

The controversy surrounding the film started when its trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS. This statement triggered a heated political debate and many leaders questioned the veracity of the claim.

Faced with backlash the makers then withdrew the figure and called the movie the story of three women from Kerala, in its trailer description.