The makers of Kerala Story 2 argue that the movie “insults” the state, saying, “You are destroying Kerala, not us.”

To promote their next film, The Kerala Story 2’s producers, Vipul Amrutlal Shah and Kamakhya Narayan Singh, held a press conference in Delhi. Thirty women who allegedly underwent forced conversions to Islam were presented during the meeting. However, after it was claimed that their video was “insulting” the state, the filmmakers immediately found themselves in a dispute with the media. 

Vipul and Narayan presented victims from Bengal, Bihar, Bhilwada, Gangapur, Rajkot, Udaipur, Jammu, Maharashtra, Bhopal, Jharkhand, Faridabad, Meerut, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, and Indore to the media during the press conference. When the reporters questioned them why there was not a single Malayali victim present, Vipul said, “We brought those who suffered from Kerala after Kerala Story 1. The video is still available on YouTube.”

He added, “Had we brought them again, you would have said we brought the same people. You can’t argue both sides.” When the reporters asked how the film’s story was different from the first one, Narayan claimed, “No, it’s the same story. This is a pan-India story.” Narayan also argued that the film had nothing to do with the Kerala elections and was not political, while Vipul said, “Aapko isko masala dena hai, aap dijiye please. (You add spice to it if you want).”

When the reporters then asked why the film was named only after Kerala if the film was about issues across the country, Narayan replied, “No, it’s related to Kerala also. And from Kerala, how it is all over India. The first time we made this story, people said this is only Kerala’s story. We now want to show that this happens across the country, not just Kerala.”

When a reporter got incensed and stated that Kerala is ‘number one in education’ and that they’re ‘insulting Kerala’, Vipul shot back, “Let me ask you a straight and simple question. On the floor of assembly, the then CM had put a report. If you are going to be blind towards the problem in your state, which is a wonderful state. You are destroying the state; you are responsible. Not us. You don’t want to accept there’s a problem.”

The film’s critics, Anurag Kashyap and Prakash Raj, were likewise disregarded by the filmmakers. Vipul questioned whether the critics were sensitive to the victims. An argument also erupted at the press conference on the use of the word “love jihad,” which the creators claimed the court had approved. The media countered that in 2020, the Center stated that no Central agency had recorded any such cases and that the term isn’t defined by law. The Kerala High Court supported this as well.