Filmmaker Vipul Shah says he felt compelled to make a sequel to \u201cThe Kerala Story\u201d, his controversial 2023 movie about religious conversion, as he wanted to expose a \u201cmuch larger evil\u201d that extends beyond Kerala and across the country.<\/p>\n
The sequel, titled \u201cThe Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond\u201d, hit theatres last week amid a huge controversy. The film depicts the stories of three Hindu women from different states who defy their families to marry Muslim men and are subsequently forced to convert.<\/p>\n
Shah, who has co-written the film and produced it through the banner Sunshine Pictures, said there was no pre-planned franchise strategy after the first film, which earned over Rs 300 crore at the box office and won two National Awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no plan to make even \u2018Kerala Story 2\u2019. But after \u2018Kerala Story 1\u2019, we started getting lots of stories, I realised that there is a much larger evil persisting not just in Kerala but across the country and we\u2019ve to tell this story because it is much bigger and different than what happened in \u2018Kerala Story 1\u2019 and that\u2019s why we decided to make part 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not like a marketing gimmick that, \u2018Let\u2019s make part two, it\u2019s a good brand, let\u2019s take it forward\u2019. No, nothing like that,\u201d Shah told PTI in an interview.<\/p>\n
While the first part, which was also based on the religious conversion and radicalisation of young women, was directed by Sudipto Sen, the follow-up is helmed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh.<\/p>\n
Asked if there will be a third part of the franchise, Shah said there are no concrete plans yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if there are compelling stories coming our way, some new facts will come to light, maybe we will want to tell that story. But as of today, there is no plan,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While the creative process of making the sequel was \u201cintense and passionate\u201d, the release has been anything but smooth.<\/p>\n
After its trailer was released online, the movie was labelled as hate propaganda by many on social media and in political circles.<\/p>\n
Last week, a single bench of the Kerala High Court stayed the film\u2019s release for 15 days. Shah subsequently moved a division bench in appeal, which set aside the earlier order, clearing the way for the movie\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all knew the release would be a very big challenge. We had to go through a lot of scrutiny, first on social media, then through court. What\u2019s upsetting is that in this noise, the real subject which you reach out to people sometimes gets clouded. You don\u2019t want that; you want people to understand the reality of the subject. And look at it from a point of view that there are so many girls whose lives are getting lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the sequel now running in theatres, Shah claimed that theatre owners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been receiving threats to pull the movie.<\/p>\n
In Kerala, activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) staged protests outside theatres screening the film, saying they would not allow its screening as it allegedly depicts the state in a bad light.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very disturbing news, some people are threatening the theatre owners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu… they are violating court orders by threatening theatre owners to stop showing the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a violation of my right, it is a violation of the order of the court. I would urge both the governments and the chief ministers to take stringent action. Even if they don\u2019t agree with the film, it\u2019s fine, but that doesn\u2019t mean that they will not protect my right,\u201d the producer added.<\/p>\n
Though Shah has been making hard-hitting titles like \u201cThe Kerala Story\u201d and \u201cBastar\u201d, he said he has not abandoned commercial cinema.<\/p>\n
He recently wrapped \u201cGovernor\u201d, starring Manoj Bajpayee, and is gearing up for \u201cHisaab\u201d with actor wife Shefali Shah and Jaideep Ahlawat.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I made \u2018Bastar\u2019 and \u2018Kerala Story\u2019, people started thinking that I\u2019ve decided that I will only make this kind of film. It is not true though. I\u2019ll be making all kinds of films. That is what makes me creatively happy and I\u2019m going to continue to do that,\u201d said the producer, who has directed mainstream films like \u201cAankhen\u201d, \u201cNamastey London\u201d, \u201cWaqt\u201d and \u201cLondon Dreams\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shah said \u201cHisaab\u201d is about a bank robbery, and he is looking to release it theatrically in June-July.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted to make a unique bank robbery. It is unique, funny, and intelligent, just like \u2018Aankhen\u2019, which had three blind guys robbing bank. But this is extraordinary, far more believable, real and something like this has never been made in India,\u201d the producer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filmmaker Vipul Shah says he felt compelled to make a sequel to \u201cThe Kerala Story\u201d, his controversial 2023…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[203124,203125,203126,203127,203128,203129,49,48,75,203130,203131,9640,337,203132],"class_list":["post-511408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-controversialfilm","tag-hatepropaganda","tag-thekeralastory2","tag-thekeralastorybeyond","tag-vipulshah","tag-bastar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-filmsequel","tag-freedomofspeech","tag-indiancinema","tag-movies","tag-religiousconversion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}