Amid row over Doordarshan airing 'The Kerala Story', Catholic diocese screens film for teens

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 8 (PTI) Amidst a raging row over national broadcaster Doordarshan airing the controversial Bollywood movie 'The Kerala Story', a Catholic diocese in Kerala has screened the film for teenagers as part of an "intensive training programme".

The Idukki Diocese, under the prominent Syro Malabar Catholic Church, screened the movie last week for its children studying in Classes 10, 11, and 12, and asked them to discuss the film and write a review about it.

Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film is about a group of women from Kerala who were forced to convert to Islam and join ISIS.

As news of the screening of the controversial movie hit headlines, the Diocese on Monday came out with an explanation, claiming that the movie was shown to "create awareness about love relationships and its consequences and dangers".

Fr Jins Karakkat, the media in-charge of the Diocese, said they conduct an intensive training programme for children every year during vacation.

Specific topics are selected for the programme and books prepared for it, he said.

"This year, the programme was held on April 2, 3 and 4. The theme of the textbooks prepared for the children of Classes 10, 11, and 12 was love relationships," the priest said.

The objective of selecting the topic was to create awareness about falling in love and their consequences, he said.

"Nowadays, there are circumstances in which teenagers are largely falling in love and facing dangers. So, we intended to create awareness among our children about such dangers," he explained.

To bring the idea to the children more effectively, the movie 'The Kerala Story' was shown, Fr Karakkat further said.

The children, who participated in the intensive training programme, were also asked to discuss the film in their WhatsApp group and compile reviews, he said.

When quizzed about the controversy surrounding the film, the priest said he had no idea about it and only knew that it was released on an OTT platform.

Despite a strong protest raised by the ruling CPI(M) and Congress in Kerala, Doordarshan last week aired the controversial Bollywood movie 'The Kerala Story'.

Cutting across politics, leaders of various political parties in Kerala including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan strongly criticised the screening of the movie by the public broadcaster.

Vijayan had condemned Doordarshan's decision and asked it to withdraw the decision, saying it would only "exacerbate communal tensions" ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Vijayan had also asked the national broadcaster not to become a "propaganda machine" for the BJP and the RSS. PTI