Producer on beef scene in The Kerala Story 2

The Kerala Story 2 directed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh cleared all the legal hurdles to hit the screens last week. The film starred Aditi Bhatia, Ulka Gupta, and Aishwarya Ojha and is the sequel to the hit film The Kerala Story.

The film got mixed reviews and in the meantime, the beef scene in the film stirred a huge controversy. Talking about it, Producer Vipul Shah said “People are focusing on beef and the force-feeding of beef. My question is: if she were force-fed a laddu like that, would it be allowed? Can you take away a girl’s freedom to choose and force-feed her anything? That is the larger question the film raises.”

He continued “That is the larger point, which people with a certain kind of biased mindset have ignored.” On the film carrying Kerala in the title, he said  “One needs to understand that the theme of the film is manipulative conversion and, because of that, lives are being lost. Our girls’ lives are being destroyed. Not in every case does the girl die, but lives are being ruined. That is the same theme that is extended in this film, and that is why the title has been kept as The Kerala Story 2: Go Beyond. It goes beyond Kerala.”

He revealed  “When we made The Kerala Story, there was no plan for a sequel. The idea came when we encountered stories from across the nation and realised that this menace is huge -- it is widespread. That is when the idea of a sequel began. Now, the moment you call it a sequel, the title cannot change. But we wanted to be honest that it is not only about Kerala -- it goes far beyond Kerala. It covers the entire country, and that is why it is called The Kerala Story 2: Go Beyond. In that sense, it is a spiritual sequel to the original film.”