The Kerala Story 2 - movie review

As much as I would like that the entire hyped-up storyline of the much touted propaganda film The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond is at least partly fictional, the reality seems to be otherwise. 

This is purely based on anecdotal evidence as seen from several cases that gets the much-needed media attention from time to time. Anecdotes corroborate with fiction. And one could connect the dots backwards, perhaps. 

Unlike the prequel, the second edition of the film is not entirely based out of Kerala, rather shows the plight of Hindu religion girls across the Hindi-belt of India, at Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan.

Surekha Nair (Ulka Gupta) is the only child and is brought up in a secular environment by her progressive Malayalee parents. She informs them one day about “her decision" to move to Delhi to live-in with Salim (Sumit Gahlawat), a forward-thinking journalist, much to their chagrin. The typical father’s love doesn’t hold her wishes back and she moves on to another city, even as she starts preparing for her UPSC exams.

In Gwalior, Neha Sant (Aishwarya Ojha) is building a career in sports, to participate in national level tournaments for javelin throwers. Her father, who is also her coach, is a middle-class family bread winner, and is showcased from the Dalit community. Neha encounters Raju (Arjun Aujla) who expresses his deep love for her and the two elope to get married. It is only after their Hindu marriage that he confesses his real name, Md. Faizan.

Divya Paliwal (Aditi Bhatia) is a 16-year-old girl from Jodhpur and is a budding influencer who wishes to build a career in dance. Her strict mother chides her all the time for making reels, stating that it is not in the conservative Hindu tradition to undertake such public activities. A neighbourhood boy, Rasheed (Yuktam Khosla) befriends Divya and suggests that she get married to him, so she can freely make more such videos and attain national acclaim. The girl falls for his words.

Life turns, rather overturns for the three girls for their blind and one-sided love to muslim men, who have cast a net to convert these Hindu girls to Islam. While Salim is preparing for an Islamic Nation that India would become by 2047, Rasheed is well paid by the local Maulvi for converting a Hindu Dalit girl into their religion.

After their Nikkah is solemnised, the Maulvi brutally rapes Neha (now Nafisa) in the name of cleansing her and promises more money to Faizan, if he can convert a Brahmin girl to Islam the next time. After bringing Nafisa home, she is pushed to prostitution by Faizan and his family.

Rashid, on the other hand impregnates Divya (now Alia) and imprisons her inside the house, and goes on to marry another girl, who is also drawn from a Hindu-background. 

During an altercation, he pushes Alia on the wall and she dies, with their one-year old infant crying. To cover up the murder, he chops Divya in to several pieces, packs her in a gunny bag and buries her in a park along with his family members.

Salim, meanwhile brings in his wife to the same house where he is living-in with Surekha in a Muslim neighbourhood. He pleads her to get converted to Islam, which she vehemently refuses. 

She is tried with every possible way to get converted, including force-feeding her with beef curry. Surekha eventually hangs herself with a handwritten note, explaining what really happened.

Cops, from across cities catch wind of the situation and all the three men are arrested and punished. The movie ends there, but the story doesn’t. The film-makers claim through songs and lyrics that the atrocities persist and are continuing right in front of us.

Director Kamakhya Narayan Singh has gone all out to show Muslims in such poor light in this supposedly one-sided narrative, with the full backing of Producer Vipul Amritlal Shah, alongside Co-Producers Aashin A. Shah and Ravichand Nallappa.

Screenplay by Vipul Shah and Amarnath Jha are hard hitting; Cinematographer Abhijeet Chaudhari has shown the rich locales of Jodhpur and Agra quite interestingly, with the backdrops of the famed fort and the Taj Mahal respectively, a resplendent memory of the Mughal atrocities committed on Hindus 500 years ago, till date.

The film was released during the Ramzan month in April 2026 and opened to much critical response in markets such as Kerala and is now streaming on Zee5 app. A must watch movie for liberal parents, let alone their children. U/A certified. 

Use discretion while watching with little ones, senior citizens and the weak at heart. I cried though, seeing the plight of helpless parents who’s daughters think all Hindus are Islamophobic without a justification.