The Kerala Story director Sudipto Sen was ‘not prepared for backlash’

The Kerala Story continues to be highly debated, while it also keeps churning money at the box office. ‘Anti-Muslim’, propaganda, agenda driven… a lot of terms have been thrown around to describe the actor Adah Sharma-starrer revolving around ideological and religious conversion.

Director Sudipto Sen was prepared for the reactions- but not the extreme pushback. “I was not prepared for the backlash,” he admits to us, “I was set for the reaction and opposition, yes. This is because I never thought the political debate which has erupted, is necessary.”

The film has been made tax free in many states, and a press conference was held on Wednesday in Mumbai where the makers brought forth 26 women who have lived the incidents depicted in it. However, the West Bengal government has banned the exhibition of The Kerala Story in the state. “No political party should have opposed us because we are talking about stories of girls and their lives. If only they would have said ‘yes, these girls have gone through enough, let’s debate over different aspects to it’,” rues Sen.

In fact, the filmmaker thinks it is confusing. “We have been taught by these political leaders only that terror has no religion. And when we started talking about terror, they brought in religion. This dichotomous situation was not expected. As a matter of fact, we were prepared because the truth was on our side, and we are almost vindicated,” he shares.