The Kerala Story 2 Movie Review:

When you check in to watch a film like The Kerala Story 2, you have to carry some optimism within. It’s probably not a wise call to expect nuance, but maybe the display of bigotry and hate-peddling will be merely contemptible, and not infuriating — at least that’s what you hope. But then again, how can you expect any sensitivity from a film that aspires to build a franchise out of oppression?

Cast: Aishwarya Ojha, Ulka Gupta, Aditi Bhatia, Alka Amin

Directed by: Kamakhya Narayan Singh

The Kerala Story 2 is exactly one of those films where the only thing left to figure out is how infuriating it can get. Is it under the radar, or on the nose? Is it the dog-whistling kind, or copious amounts of straight calls-for-action?  The sad part is the makers haven’t even put up a facade here. The intent is clear — this is a reverse-engineered script, concocted with an intention to provoke the fence-sitter and trigger the skeptic. 

The film tells the stories of three young women — Divya, Neha, and Surekha — living their separate lives in three separate parts of the country, connected by nothing else besides the religious identity of  their predator.  The Kerala Story 2 is not interested in the dramatics of storytelling — which explains its decision to begin with morbid deaths of its principal figures. You will be hard pressed to see one decent Muslim figure. The broad strokes in the film’s depiction of their community are laughable and scary at once. All the keywords that have been dominating the news debates and social media discourses in past few years — Islamophobia, Whatsapp University, Secularism — are tossed around freely, to convince us of the makers’ ‘research process.’ One Hindu citizen says to another, “don’t talk like right wing fanatics.” In the same scene, An ageing man refers to the ‘1000 year old slavery’ they have endured, calling for ‘Hindu unity’— against what? Well, it doesn’t need to be spelt out. 

There is some unintended humour in the early portions, in the form of Hindi-Malayalam hybrid dialogues from Surekha and his family (because even in a rabid film like these, makers can’t trust their audience to read Hindi subtitles for 30 seconds). But after a point, it becomes difficult to tolerate the film even ironically. 

The sad part is, the film is constantly berating its own female protagonists for their lack of intellect. It’s a cautionary tale for its own people first, before being a blatant hate-speech against ‘the other’. For someone aspiring to be a national-level sportswoman, Neha (Ulka Gupta) is incredibly daft in who she befriends and how. Surekha (Aishwarya Ojha), an atheist is not granted peace even after death. She is compelled to become a Hindu again, with a post-death note, where she embraces the faith she was born in — hence earning status of a perfect victim. Divya (Aditi Bhatia), meanwhile, is a minor, and predictably the most gullible of the three protagonists, with the most frivolous motivations and the most cringe-worthy dialogues (At one point, Divya calls her parents ‘kattar,’only because she must eventually come around to declare her mother ‘the best’). It’s a pity because two of the female leads are good as performers. Ulka especially captures her character’s tragedy earnestly enough, despite being backed by material that’s discomfortingly broad. 

The Kerala Story 2 is frequently rage-baiting in its use of devices, and consistently boring through it all. But the fury, at times, overpowers the boredom. The water finally tips over the surface in the final segment where the visuals of bulldozer dominate the screen, with ‘Har Har Mahadev’ chants going in the background. The makers practically make it impossible to give them any benefit of doubt — these narrative choices are tone-deaf at the least, and dangerously hate-peddling at its worst. Another particularly visual that startled me with its audacity was that of Neha sitting with a javelin, with Taj Mahal in the background.  On the surface, it might look like a harmless visual, but there is something eerily vicious about it. 

At one point, a character asserts that Muslims of all 57 countries are united in their mission, and operate with solidarity. Well, if the goal was to peddle misinformation and hatred, The Kerala Story 2 definitely goes above and beyond.