REVIEWS

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The trailer of “The Kerala Story” has been the subject of numerous debates. Furthermore, there was a significant discussion about the 32,000 number they alluded to in the trailer. 

Based on a true story, our main character Shalini Unnikrishnan, changed her name to Fathima after a religious conversion. She gets caught by global powers while attempting to escape from ISIS. Shalini's confession, in which she describes how she was brainwashed into believing in Allah and eventually made a tool for the holy war, can be seen in the movie. 

The girls are converted and sent to Syria with their husbands to fight for the Islamic State. Taken and detained in Afghanistan, Shalini recounts her story in the flashback where she and her two schoolmates, Geetanjali and Nimah, were allured to join the mission by another colleague Asifa. The other two must bear the brunt of resisting the sinister plot while Shalini gives in. 

Adah Sharma gives a sincere performance and conveys the pain of Shalini, who loses her innocence but keeps her spine. The character is made more likable by her incorporation of a Malayali accent into her Hindi. The remainder engages in an amateur activity in which every emotion must be displayed. In general, it is a story with little thought and a lot of intrigue! 

While you will adore Adah Sharma's character on the one hand, you will despise Sonia Balani, who is a remarkable feat for an actor. She plays the role of the Muslim member who is attempting to brainwash her roommates. With a stoic expression and showing no feelings by any stretch of the imagination for anybody, she figures out how to depict a person that anybody watching the film will perpetually begin to loathe. The way she adds messages from Islam into standard everyday discussions or attempts to discuss different religions and their Divine beings will make you irate. She is the ideal antagonist, and her easygoing demeanor contributes to your anger toward the character.  

Suryapal Singh, Sudipto Sen, and Vipul Amrutlal Shah's composing is essentially the saddest thing about 'The Kerala Story'. It's not that the writing isn't exciting enough for a story; rather, the perspective is flawed. While its vows are founded on genuine occurrences, as an essayist one mustn't have signals and discuss the ills of one specific religion and not show any person from that strict foundation. Had the writers gotten two or three Muslim characters who were great, and who likewise faced this grievous wrongdoing occurring locally, it would have shown a substantially more adjusted standpoint to the watcher. Now, it seems as if all Muslims are evil and have this mentality, which is not true at all. 

The film editing by Sanjay Sharma was decent. He was able to show the story back and forth, keeping the audience interested in what would happen in each timeline. Likewise, holding such a tremendous story for only over two hours was praiseworthy work. 

Viresh Sreevalsa and Bishakh Jyoti's music and foundation scores are good. The use of a few songs in the middle of the story for the romantic parts did not seem particularly appropriate, even though the BGM does provide the necessary chills. Even though the songs were not particularly memorable on their own.