While rejecting a petition seeking a ban on ‘The Kerala Story’, the Kerala High Court observed that Hindu Sanyasis are frequently portrayed as rapists and smugglers in Hindi and Malayalam films, and “no one says anything”.
“There are umpteen movies in which Hindu sanyasis are seen as smugglers. Nothing happens. No one says anything. You may have seen such movies in Hindi and Malayalam,” the court said last week.
These comments align with the analyses made by Gems of Bollywood in several tweets and articles pointing out how Bollywood has an agenda to deliberately show all saffron-clad characters as frauds and criminals.
In Bollywood, any saffron-clad man is not an ascetic who has renounced worldly attachments to attain moksha. On the contrary, he is a cunning fraud in cahoots with the villain.
The bench quashed the appeal for banning the release of the controversial film that tells the story of girls from non-Muslim communities who have disappeared from Kerala and joined terror groups such as ISIS after converting to another religion.
The film was released on May 5, 2023. Despite lacking expensive marketing and PR backing, it has become the first genuine profitable hit of 2023. It is thriving mainly on word-of-mouth publicity, despite facing opposition in many states and from many operators. Although made on a budget of about ₹15 crore, The Kerala Story has earned close to ₹57 crore in less than a week.
I watch how Bollywood engages with and represents Hindu society. A non-Marxist film critic writing in English.
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UPI ID - gemsofbollywood@upi / gemsofbollywood@icici