The Kerala Story Wins National Award for Best Imagination

If you want to give The Kerala Story the stamp of truth, you cover it with the hay of Shah Rukh Khan and Rocky Rani.

What happened to 3 women in Kerala = Kerala Story. So what if we initially said it was 32,000 women and later unapologetically changed it to 3 when the Supreme Court pointed out facts?

(Photo: Namita Chauhan/The Quint)

Do you like mangoes?

I live in Mumbai. I order mangoes from all over India. They come in cardboard or wooden cartons full of hay. The mangoes are nestled between the hay. When they are dispatched, they are unripe. The hay helps them become ripe.

I had a guest over; he pointed to the cardboard box and said, what is this? I said, this is a box of mangoes. He opened it and told me I was wrong. It is a box of mangoes and hay. I said no, while you may be technically right, the hay exists for the mangoes. The point is the mangoes. We agreed to disagree.

This isn’t a piece about mangoes. This is a piece about nations. A nation is made of stories.

History, journalism, art (fiction and non-fiction), and discourse. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the four. The NCERT, in charge of educating us, is constantly confused, what to say of mere mortals.

Satyameva Jayate. The truth always prevails, or so says the Mundaka Upanishad. To help truth prevail, first we have to decide what the truth is. Thankfully, many wise men are on the job. NCERT is one; the National Film Awards jury is another. It’s not difficult to imagine what happened.

The task at hand was simple. Make Kerala Story the mango. This is the need of the hour. We need to be at it.

Narratives of Blame

For those struggling to understand, some context: the acquittal of Pragya Thakur in terror case = a Hindu can never be a terrorist. Acquittal of Muslims in terror cases, over and over and over again? Devendra Fadnavis says he “pledges” to challenge the acquittal.

Covid-19? Muslims to blame, Muslim vendors to be boycotted, their livelihoods destroyed. Tablighi Jamaat members acquitted of all charges? Silence.

What happened to the three women in Kerala = Kerala Story. So what if we initially said it was 32,000 women and later unapologetically changed it to three when the Supreme Court pointed out facts?

The cat was almost let out of the bag, when a judge, clearing the release after the filmmakers agreed to change 32,000 to three, remarked: “Asserting that The Kerala Story was a work of fiction, the court further remarked, ‘There are no ghosts or vampires. But there are [a] large number of movies showing the same.’”

The Distraction Game

Evil Muslims doing “love jihad” is as likely as vampires and ghosts. Close save, good that too many people didn’t pay attention to this.

You don’t need too much hay at 303. You need a lot of it at 240. So if you want to give Kerala Story the stamp of truth, if you want to reward Vikrant Massey for 12th Fail, you cover it with the hay of Shah Rukh Khan and Rocky Rani.

It obviously worked. What is everyone talking about the day after? Not Jawan, not Rocky Rani, but Kerala Story. Sure, there was a dissenter in the process. His inclusion gives us more hay. His dissent is irrelevant because it doesn’t matter. Ashutosh Gowariker says the next day that the decision was unanimous. The story about his dissent drowns.

The National Film Awards serve another useful purpose.

We are a government which celebrates art. We give an award to Karan Johar; his Instagram stories become full of his gratitude towards us. SRK comes bearing the stamp of our approval.

Art, Approval, and Amnesia

This is how truth is made. This is how lies—Dibakar Banerjee’s Tees, Honey Trehan’s Panjab 95, Santosh, and many more films—are buried.

To anyone who thought that after years of being accused of being drug peddlers, criminals, murderers, the film industry will refuse to participate in this charade, that they would stand with those being censored, not allowed to release their films, even as they simultaneously say—film industry is a family? You must be new in town.

They are more loyal than the king. Johar in fact recently came out in defence of the censor board. They perform at Waves—our propaganda festival, they tweet as ordered.

They will always bend. On command. Sometimes before it. Hay or not, once in a while we should throw a cookie at them.

Truth and Reality. Straight from the manufacturer. Same day delivery. No returns. Not just five, but all the stars at your service. Satyameva Jayate.

(The author is a lawyer and research consultant based in Mumbai. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)