India’s public broadcaster Doordarshan has decided it’s in public interest to broadcast The Kerala Story today on DD National

For those who’ve forgotten, The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, purports to showcase Kerala as a centre for recruitment for the Islamic State, where Muslim men use their wiles to send Hindu women to Syria. The producers of the movie boldly claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had been lured in this way, before changing the figure to a much more benign “three women”.

Unsurprisingly, when the movie released last year, prominent BJP leaders heaped praise on it, organised special screenings, and granted it tax exemption in a handful of BJP-led states.

Now, DD National is reviving the controversy by choosing to broadcast the wildly propagandist film today. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the decision “highly condemnable”.

“The national news broadcaster should not become a propaganda machine of the BJP-RSS combine and withdraw from screening a film that only seeks to exacerbate communal tensions ahead of the general elections. Kerala will remain steadfast in opposing such malicious attempts to sow hatred,” he posted on X.

While there’s been no government statement on the issue, Prasar Bharati’s former CEO decided to respond to Vijayan’s tweet.

Despite being drenched in bogus claims, the movie did its job. Watch this video on Newslaundry on what movie-goers had to say.

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