Kerala church screens documentary on Manipur violence to counter controversial film 'The Kerala Story'

The vicar said that Manipur must not be forgotten since what happened in the northeastern state 'is a reality', as against 'the propaganda' unleashed in films like 'The Kerala '

A woman with her child at a relief camp for displaced people in Churachandpur, Manipur. 

K.M. Rakesh, TT, Kalpetta (Wayanad),  12.04.24 : A church in Kochi on Wednesday screened a documentary on how the Christian community and their churches were targeted in Manipur, an act seen as a response to a section of the church screening the controversial Hindi film The Kerala Story.

The vicar of Sanjopuram St Joseph’s Church in Kochi, part of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, screened the documentary for 125 students of Classes I to XII at 9.30am on Wednesday.

“The documentary was screened as part of the culmination programmes of the summer camp for children,” the vicar, Father James Panavelil, told The Telegraph on Wednesday.

The documentary, Manipur: The Cry of the Oppressed, has been produced by senior journalist Anto Akkara, who toured the troubled state during the peak of the violence.

The vicar said that Manipur must not be forgotten since what happened in the northeastern state “is a reality”, as against “the propaganda” unleashed in films like The Kerala Story.

“Regarding The Kerala Story, I view it as a propaganda film and hence should not be screened at churches. But that’s not the case with this documentary, which is based on hard facts about the suffering of thousands of people,” he said.

The film portrays gullible women, mostly Hindu, being trapped by Muslim youths who convert them on the pretext of marrying them and then trafficking them to join the Islamic State.

Panavelil defended his decision to screen the documentary on Manipur, recalling how the church had spoken out against the atrocities in the state. Asked if he faced any resistance from within or outside the church after screening the documentary, the clergyman said: “Not yet. But I am ready to face anything.”

Alarm on film

Nearly 50 writers, scholars and senior journalists have come out against a section of Kerala’s Catholic Church screening the The Kerala Story and urged the community in general not to fall prey to such “vulgar propaganda”.

The influential Syro-Malabar church’s Idukki Diocese and Kerala Christian Youth Movement of the Thamarassery Diocese screened the film after Doordarshan showed it recently.

“The Christian church known for centuries of social outreach for the welfare of the community, in general, must not fall prey to such vulgar propaganda which can upset the generations-long community balance and affect peaceful inter-religious /interfaith existence,” the statement said.