The Kerala high court on February 26 stayed the release of the film, The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond, a day before it was supposed to hit the theatres.
The movie, like its 2023 ‘prequel’, The Kerala Story, is produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s Sunshine Pictures.
The trailer of The Kerala Story 2, which claims that the film is “inspired by many true events”, appears to depict Muslim men luring Hindu women from Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh into romantic relationships and eventual marriages, which are later portrayed as part of a larger conspiracy often described as ‘Love Jihad’.
The judgment came on a writ petition filed by Sreedev Namboodiri and Freddy Francis seeking to quash the screening certificate granted to the film. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, in his order, made several stern observations, including “non-application of mind by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) while certifying the movie.”
“Dissemination of content which has a tendency to create discord, disturb law and order, even undermine social harmony cannot come within the gamut of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India…Prima facie, these guidelines do not seem to have been borne in mind by the CBFC while granting certification and there is a manifest disregard of the applicable law necessitating for this Court to interfere,” the Court said in its order.
The court further observed that the teaser of the film, released on February 17, had the potential to distort public perception and disturb communal harmony. Noting that the CBFC had, prima facie, ignored certification guidelines, Justice Kurian directed it to re-examine the issue.
“…the very content in the teaser itself, which is conceded to be part of the movie, has the prima facie potential to distort the public perception and disturb communal harmony…There can be possibility that the State of Kerala, otherwise known for its communal harmony and friendly natives be identified by viewers across the world as a hub of fanatical and communal divide.”
The petitioners argued that the CBFC had granted certification without complying with the statutory mandate under the Cinematograph Act. They also contended that the film’s title and narrative could stigmatize Kerala and exacerbate communal tensions. They pointed out that after the release of the first film in the series, The Kerala Story, several instances of communal unrest were reported.
It is pertinent to add that during the proceedings, the Court expressed interest in viewing the film before delivering its judgment. However, the producer was not keen on this, and his counsel urged that the matter be decided on its merits. “Kerala lives in total harmony. But you have portrayed that this is happening all over Kerala. There is a wrong indication and can also incite passion,” the court had orally observed during the hearing.
The CBFC, in its defence, argued that neither the teaser nor the trailer had been certified by it and that it had no role in their release. It also submitted that the content shown in the teaser does not appear in the film.
Late on February 26, the producers moved a division Bench of the Kerala high court against the interim stay by the single Bench. After an urgent hearing, Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice P V Balakrishnan reserved their order.
Trailer Uses Islamophobic Tropes, Reinforces Familiar Fear Narratives
The trailer opens with a man saying, “Inshallah, in the next 25 years, India will turn into an Islamic state and Sharia law will be imposed across the country.” Sharia, a set of religious principles that govern aspects of Muslim life, is often invoked in Right-wing rhetoric as part of alarmist narratives about demographic and cultural change.
Similar claims have been repeatedly made in hate speeches by the flagbearers of Hindutva, for example the controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand. In a speech delivered in April 2022, he alleged that wherever Sharia is implemented, killing a “kafir” is treated as a reward, and that in Muslim-majority areas, Hindus are not even allowed to “breathe.”
On July 1, 2022, in a video titled “Will India now be run by Sharia law?”, Narsinghanand claimed that the country’s judiciary had instigated “jihadis” against then BJP leader Nupur Sharma. The video was a response to oral remarks by Justice Surya Kant, who had held Sharma “single-handedly responsible” for the controversy following her remarks on Islam during a television debate.
In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress manifesto of proposing the introduction of Sharia law and the reintroduction of triple talaq.
“Read the Congress manifesto carefully. They have said they will re-implement Muslim personal law and triple talaq. You tell me, can this country be run by Sharia?” Shah said at a rally in Madhya Pradesh. In Chhattisgarh, he added, “They have said they will make a separate law for minorities. Tell me, should this country function as per Sharia? Should triple talaq be reintroduced?”
However, the Congress manifesto made no mention of Sharia law or triple talaq.
At the start of each storyline in the trailer, Hindu women are shown being warned by their parents against relationships with Muslim men. The daughters respond with variations of, “My [Rashid/Faizan/Salim] is not like that.” The exchange closely mirrors a familiar trope popularised by hardline Hindutva networks: “Mera Abdul alag hai” or some variant of it.
In recent years, “Abdul” has been reduced in social and mainstream media to a catch-all label for Muslim men. Right-wing influencers routinely deploy the phrase, “My Abdul is different”, as a sneer directed at interfaith relationships. The trope flattens Muslim men into a single, suspect category and insinuates that such relationships are inherently deceptive or dangerous.
In a detailed analysis of this narrative, Alt News traced its origins and documented its use as a rallying cry against “Love Jihad” by politicians, media outlets, influencers, and even in music videos.
The trailer leans heavily into this playbook. Several visibly Muslim male characters are shown speaking of a “mission” to convert Hindu women, echoing the “Love Jihad” conspiracy theory — the claim that Muslim men systematically target Hindu women for conversion as part of an organised demographic project. Despite the absence of credible evidence, the narrative has been widely amplified as part of anti-Muslim propaganda, often with tangible consequences on the ground.
- In September 2025, responding to a query by an MLA, the Rajasthan government admitted that no case of ‘Love Jihad’ was ever recorded in the state.
- In 2020, National Commission for Women chief Rekha Sharma told Quint that NCW had no data on ‘Love Jihad’ cases.
- ‘Love Jihad’ is not defined in law and no such case had been reported by any central agencies, the Union ministry of home affairs had informed Lok Sabha in February 2020 in response to a question on cases of “Love Jihad” in Kerala.
- A study of religious conversions in Kerala by The News Minute has found that Hinduism has consistently attracted the largest number of converts in the state in past several years. In other words, conversions into Hinduism from other religions have consistently outnumbered conversions to Islam in Kerala.
In one scene, a Muslim character is shown discussing plans to “lure” more Hindu women, even quoting a supposed “rate” of ₹12 lakh for a Brahmin woman. The sequence draws directly from a long-debunked piece of misinformation circulated in right-wing networks, which falsely claimed the existence of “rate cards” assigning monetary value to women of different religious communities. One such viral list — claiming ₹6 lakh for a Brahmin woman, ₹3 lakh for a Jain woman, and ₹7 lakh for a Sikh woman — was debunked by Alt News as far back as 2018.
The trailer not only resurrects this fabricated claim but builds on it. In a subsequent scene, the character is asked how he intends to “profit” from the woman he married, followed by visuals suggesting sexual exploitation. The narrative thus layers conspiracy with insinuation, reinforcing the idea of Muslim men as predatory actors operating within an organized, profit-driven scheme. Finally, in a blatant instance of dog-whistling and communal scaremongering, the trailer urges viewers to act “before your daughter becomes their next target”.
In another scene, the father of one of the women calls upon his Hindu neighbours to “unite” — a familiar refrain in Hindutva mobilization. The appeal echoes a broader campaign narrative that frames interfaith relationships as a civilizational threat and urges collective vigilance to “protect” Hindu women. Once confined to the fringes, such messaging has increasingly found its way into mainstream political discourse, often under the rubric of countering “Love Jihad.”
Slogans such as “Ek hai toh safe hai” and “Batenge toh katenge” echo this rhetoric. During the Maharashtra assembly election campaign in November 2024, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath used “Batenge toh katenge” at rallies, presenting it as a call for Hindu unity.
The 2023 movie The Kerala Story, which claimed to unearth the happenings behind 32,000 women who went missing in the state of Kerala, used misquotes, flawed calculations and imaginary figures to make the filmmaker’s claims appear true. Alt News’s detailed report on this can be read here.
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