Sudipto Sen's The Kerala Story narrates the tale of three women from Kerala who get trapped in the ISIS network. Each suffers different, tragic fate with one of them getting brainwashed and made to join ISIS and then finding herself living a hellish existence in Syria with her newborn. Adah Sharma plays this character of a Hindu girl called Shalini Unnikrishnan who is brainwashed and converted to Islam and renamed as Fatima. The Kerala Story Movie Review: Adah Sharma's Film is a Badly-Accented Propaganda With Very Ulterior Motives.

While The Kerala Story is said to be inspired by 'true accounts' - never mind the disclaimer at the start claiming it to be a work of fiction - it looks like there is another inspiration for the film. Many on social media are claiming that the basic storyline of The Kerala Story is inspired by a Swedish series, Caliphate. The thriller-series with eight episodes is streaming on Netflix.

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'Seems To Be Influenced'

'Some Facts Some Exaggerations'

'Copy'

So What is Caliphate About?

Caliphate is directed by Goran Kapetanović and stars Gizem Erdogan, Amed Bozan, Aliette Opheim and Albin Grenholm. It premiered first on Sveriges Television in January 2020, and thanks to its popularity, was acquired by Netflix and was made available to the rest of the world in March 2020.

Watch the Trailer of The Kerala Story:

So why are people talking about Caliphate after watching The Kerala Story? Well, the storylines for both Caliphate and The Kerala Story are quite similar. Caliphate is actually based on a real-life incident of the Bethnal Green trio, which involves three British female students - Amira Abase, Shamima Begum, and Kadiza Sultana - who are brainwashed to join the ISIS by a woman called Aqsa Mahmood to be part of their war to incite terror. The women who married jihadists suffered tragic fates in life, with one getting killed in airstrike, one held in detention camp and one whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Caliphate is inspired by their stories, and follows the lives of several women who are connected to ISIS. The story revolves around Pervin, a young woman who becomes radicalised and travels to Syria with her husband, who joins ISIS. Several other young girls, including  Meanwhile, in Stockholm, a young woman named Fatima is working as an analyst for the Swedish security service. Fatima discovers a potential terrorist attack being planned in Sweden and becomes determined to prevent it. The Kerala Story: Tovino Thomas Says 'Don't Let Anybody Feed Misinformation' While Sharing Thoughts on Adah Sharma-Starrer.

As the series progresses, the focus shifts between Pervin's experiences in Syria, including the harsh realities of life under ISIS, and Fatima's investigation back in Sweden. Fatima faces numerous challenges as she tries to gather intelligence and thwart the imminent attack. Her investigation becomes personal when she realizes that her close friend Suleiman, a former ISIS member, might have ties to the planned attack. She also gets connected to Pervin who helps her get better understanding of ISIS, while in return Fatima tries to save Pervin from her living hell.

Watch the Trailer of The Kerala Story:

Well, this is basically the plot of Caliphate. Like with Caliphate, it seems The Kerala Story have taken some liberal inspirations from Bethnal Green case. However, The Kerala Story takes plenty of deviations. For one, there is no thriller aspect in the series, with the focus more on how the girls got brainwashed by their Muslim hostel mate and then of Shalini's plight in Syria, while trying to shade Islam and the state of Kerala, for which the film is accused of being a malicious propaganda. However, for a film that claims to be showing a 'ground reality' of what's happening in Kerala, we do wonder why it needs to draw parallels from what happened in UK.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 10, 2023 05:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).