The Kerala Story’s Tu Mila chronicles Shalini’s journey to becoming Fathima

Not even a week into its theatrical release, and the team of The Kerala Story have already begun putting glimpses of the film in the public domain. The film, which is currently doing phenomenal business despite the protests against it and the bans on exhibition in some states, is director Sudipto Sen’s version of what’s been happening to Hindu and Christian girls in the southern state of Kerala. According to the filmmaker, thousands of girls have been indoctrinated, converted to Islam and radicalized to be trafficked to a terror organization. The official synopsis of the film’s trailer initially stated it was about 32,000 women from Kerala, but after protests erupted over this number and its veracity, the team changed it to read as the tale of 3 women only.

The film, which has Adah Sharma in the lead, along with Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, Siddhi Idnani, Devadarshini Chetan, Vijay Krishna, Saniya Mir, among others, has apparently been picked up by Zee Network for its post-theatrical rights, but given that the film has been doing well at the box office and is expected to open in theatres across the globe on May 12, it is likely to drop on the platform only by early July. Meanwhile, in an effort to drum up interest in the film, the team just dropped the full video of a song, Tu Mila. Sung by KS Chitra, and composed by Viresh Sreevalsa, the video of the song chronicles how Shalini Unnikrishnan (Adah), is exposed to the Islam way of life through a roommate, meets and falls to a guy from the faith, following which she begins to adapt to his religious ways. The song captures how she goes from being Shalini to becoming Fathima.