Star Cast: Ulka Gupta, Aditi Bhatia, Aishwarya Ojha
Director: Kamakhya Narayan Singh
What’s Good: The actors and the film’s intention
What’s Bad: The balance between truth and narration is flawed
Loo Break: Not really
Watch or Not?: Yes, overall, if you can filter the truth from the overt dramatization
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 131 Minutes
User Rating:
Opening:
Surekha Nair (Ulka Gupta), Neha Sant (Aishwarya Ojha), and Divya Sinha (Aditi Bhatia) are based in different parts of India (only Surekha is connected to Kerala!) and happen to fall in love with Muslim boys, one of whom, Faizan (Arjan Singh Aujla) deceives Neha into thinking that he is Raju, a devout Hindu. Salim (Sumit Gahlawat) poses as a liberal-thinking, agnostic Muslim when Surekha tells him that she will never convert. Divya’s man, Rasheed (Yuktam Khossla), promises her that he will let her do sexy dances on reels after marriage and goads her into breaking ties with her loving parents (Rajiv Kumar and Shweta Munshi), who do not approve of her wearing indecent clothes and dancing to bawdy lyrics.
Surekha’s parents (Abhishek Shankar and Lakshmi) are more than a shade apprehensive when she tells them that she intends to initially get into a live-in with Salim, as per his idea. Neha’s parents (Ramji Bali and Purva Parag) are shocked when she reveals that she has already wed ‘Raju’ in a temple, as they have found an ideal match for their daughter, who is a champion in javelin throw and aims to reach National levels. Aditi defies her perceived puritanical parents and runs away with Rasheed.
But guess what? Their worlds collapse as the facades of their ‘lovers’ drop, and they find themselves trapped in the environs of fanatical Muslims. Nothing remains that is not done with them—isolation by being locked up, multiple rape, physical violence, destruction of books and equipment needed to fulfill their ambitions, and, of course, impregnation and forced conversions.
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond Movie Review: Script Analysis
Writers Amarnath Jha and (producer also) Vipul Amrutlal Shah go no-holds-barred into real terrain, highlighting jihadi Muslims and their clans and associates in The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond. A sequence talks about Ghazwa-e-Hind (a concept that literally means Battle of Hindustan or Conquest of India). This is an extremist concept often used by some terrorist groups to justify jihad against Kashmir and India and conversions, especially but not exclusively, of women.
Radical Islamists here also include the womenfolk who are party to all the heinous atrocities inflicted upon the three girls. Two of them are forcefully converted, the third forced to eat beef, and the intention is clear: they must toe the line, or else…!
However, the execution of this saga (which is based on and researched from real facts) goes off-kilter, unlike the earlier The Kerala Story and The Kashmir Files, and the recent Dhurandhar. Cinematically, as well, two of the three girls had access to their mobile phones. If they were bold enough to defy their parents or persuade them, why could they not simply use their phones to contact their folks or even access friends or the police when they landed in trouble? In an extreme but decidedly flawed depiction, we are led to believe that none of the three girls had any close friends of either gender!
There are other smaller licenses taken with logic in a serious film like this that need not be mentioned. When researched documentation makes the script concoct a mix of real events into three conceived characters, writers do go overboard, trying to blend many real sources into one character, but the paucity of reason and logic is counter-productive, as it leads to a disconnect with the audience. This defeats the core purpose of the story—to alert us on forced conversions that are happening across the country.
Today, sequels are such a curse that filmmakers capitalize on them to bring in the audience again after a hit. In reality, The Kerala Story 2 may convey an important truth, but the title makes no sense as the film also shows incidents in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
As a defense mechanism, references are made by one of the girls to (real) patriotic Muslims across the board, but that will not hold for the real ones who may feel offended at the generalization shown here, in effect, if not in aim!
There are some truly pertinent remarks on what is wrong with Hindus (their disunity and lack of education about their own religion), their trusting and fundamentally non-violent natures, and the way radical Islamists are spreading their tentacles even in Western countries. One sharp line also states that a Hindu can be an atheist, but not so a Muslim! But the film overall fails to muster the conviction it merited.
Finally, nothing comes of the duplicate birth certificates of one girl that a legal authority has decreed must be investigated. And in this case, should not the girl be kept with the parents when their document shows her to be underage, so that the marriage is null and void as the legal term goes, until proven otherwise?
On the positive side, the sequences of torture, mass molestation, and how the three ‘husbands’ finally show (and keep showing) their real side and nature are chilling to the bone. This is where the script needed to keep the overall impact real and graphic rather than being merely done for dramatic ‘impact’. This valid issue cannot be limited to a black-and-white zone, wherein ‘they’ are only bad and ‘we’ are only good. And this is when radical elements exist in Hinduism and Christianity as well.
The climax of the police action exhibits this best, as it comes across as vindictive rather than serving the ends of justice against specific criminals. And the devotional song in the background was emphatically not needed. But the way the three sets of parents behave in the post-climax is shown very well.
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond Movie Review: Star Performance
The film is bolstered by a cluster of good performances, mostly from actors making debuts, at least on the Hindi big screen. The three girls are superb, with Aishwarya Ojha and Ulka Gupta scoring the highest in their nuanced acting. Aditi Bhatia is also very good. The six parents impress, especially Abhishek Shankar and Lakshmi as Neha’s Malayalam parents. From the three ‘louts’, Sumit Gahlawat as Salim is stupendous in the way he unravels his vicious nature. Yuktam Khossla as Rasheed is also outstanding. The rest of the supporting cast does well, especially the old man who is lust and evil incarnate, and Bhakti Vasani as the timid Sneha-turned-Fatima. Alka Amin is typecast as the cunning Hafsa Begum but acts well, scoring with her expressions.
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond Movie Review: Direction, Music
Kamakhya Narayan Singh has done noted documentaries, short films, and a feature (Bhor), always on social issues, and it is surprising that he has allowed so much illogic and imbalance. It is these elementary and avoidable flaws that make all such films be labeled as ‘propaganda’ when they attempt to mirror certain unpleasant truths in society about—I emphatically repeat—the fringe elements of a community. When the intention as well as disclaimer both postulate that the aim is not to target any religion, why must the overall impact seem to do so?
Last but not least important, should not the intelligent audience be influenced for purely business reasons if one is repeating the title? The Kerala Story, The Kashmir Files, or Dhurandhar did not get a massive response only from Hindu audiences, right? And the last-mentioned film was a huge success on the digital platform in Pakistan itself!
The background score is deafening, the songs (by Mannan Shah and Santosh Nair) forgettable, and the lyrics try their best to rouse.
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond Movie Review: The Last Word
Such films must focus on their aims in a balanced manner. That alone will help them unravel truths that need to be thought about in the correct manner.
Two and a Half stars!
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond Movie Trailer:
The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond released on 27th February, 2026.
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