[0:00]In other big news, a political storm has erupted in Kerala over Kerala Story 2, with sharp reactions cutting across party lines. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has launched a scathing attack on the movie alleging, it promotes hate and pushes a fabricated narrative. He said Kerala's secular fabric is being deliberately demonized. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor echoed those concerns as well, claiming that the first movie had no factual foundation and was built on lies. He dismissed claims of large-scale conversions, warning against propaganda over isolated cases. The BJP, however, has now hit back, Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrashekhar accused the Chief Minister of hypocrisy and distraction politics, questioning why he was acting as a protector of society. Amid the row, Kerala Tourism has now weighed in with a subtle counter, a poster reading, 'No Beef with anyone.' With the tagline, 'That's our recipe for happiness', signaling the state's pitch for harmony over hate. Meanwhile, Kerala Story 2 director Kamakhya Narayan Singh and producer Vipul Shah have spoken to NDTV, Amit the political storm surrounding the movie. Take a look. But the trailer says inspired by many true events. Then it goes on to say that we will make an Islamic state in the next 25 years in all of India. It will become an Islamic nation. Can you tell us some of these true events that your film is inspired by? Did you actually find cases where a girl was made to eat beef because that is what the anger is directed at? That you want to talk about the problem of radicalization is fine, but you are actually suggesting that girls are being forcibly fed beef. Not one case, I can tell you about many cases where girls were forced to eat beef. I met the girls who have told me that they were forcefully forced to eat beef. I know those girls. So there are not one, two, three, there are at least 10 to 20 cases which I have, and there might be lot, lot more cases because every day there has been cases reported. So we can't deny this fact. Can you tell us about some of these? And Ghazwa-e-Hind, in PFI's document they have written in Janpur's case, it is written that we want to create a Ghazwa-e-Hind through using these girls as a trap model, where we use our love as a trap model and take them on our side, convert them into Islam. In your first edition of this film, you had spoken of how the entire radicalization, the conversion of women, you know, them being shipped out to Islamic State, all of that is happening in Kerala. So the Kerala government actually is first off the block and you have managed to do the impossible. The opposition and the government in Kerala are both angry with you.
[3:39]I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I would say that, uh, simply put, I, I feel that, uh, after the first one, there was one accusation that kept happening around us. That something like this doesn't happen in Kerala. The number of 32,000 is a complete fiction of, I mean, fiction of our imagination. And then we put out a video on 6th of June, a 17 minute long video on YouTube, where we have explained the 32,000 number with institutes, uh, and the names of institutes and people, where they can go. Even in Kerala Assembly there was a document presented where the number of 7,700 something was put on the table in the assembly. So it was not the, not our imagination. These are hard real numbers. But what I felt is that after that, I expected the Kerala government to take very hard stand on this criminals. Uh, but I haven't really heard of that happening. Uh, rather, now we've been told again that we are coming to create some, uh, you know, divide in the social harmony. And I'm surprised that social harmony gets divided when you expose criminals. And my colleague Ashwin is now joining me live from Kerala. Ashwin, Kerala Story 2 has yet again brought politics to the surface. Uh, with the Kerala Chief Minister clearly saying that they do not agree with the sequel Kerala 2 and that the the upcoming movie is yet again propagating communal propaganda in the state. Yesha, well, uh, the Chief Minister has given a very strong, taken a very strong stance against it. Uh, and how is the Kerala as a state responding to it? Remember, it's a very politically aware state, and therefore, the SFI, the, the left wing students union has announced a beef festival in various campuses. But, but the most interesting part, which has happened just now as we speak, just a while ago, the MSF, which is the students' League of the Muslim League in Kerala, their state secretary has come forward to state they should not conduct any beef festival. And it could, uh, hurt some of the religious sentiments. We do not want to force beef on anybody. And this is what is interesting, Rehesha. This entire story is being turned political, but at the same time, we are finding some sane voices who are trying, who are trying to keep this sanity and also calling out the kind of propaganda, alleged propaganda the film is. And therefore, the entire narrative that is now being put across in Kerala is completely changing. SFI has said they are going to have a state beef festival across various universities. The Muslim League saying they will not support any such initiative. They respect the sentiments of people who do not like to eat beef, and therefore it should not be conducted. Certainly, this politics around it is becoming bigger by the day, Rehesha. Well, Ashwin, thanks for getting us the latest. We'll wait and have to see how the Kerala Story 2 showdown continues.
