The Kerala Story 2023

Shalini Unnikrishnan, also known as Fatima, Adah Sharma is accused of being a terrorist and is caught at the Afghan-Iran border. During her interrogation, she reveals that her real name is Shalini Unnikrishnan, a young woman from Kerala who was brainwashed into converting to Islam and becoming a terrorist. The film flashes back to a few months earlier.

Shalini, a Hindu, lives with her mother and grandmother in Kerala and later goes to the city to study nursing. There, she meets three friends—Nimah Matthew, Yogita Bihani; Geethanjali Menon, Siddhi Idnani; and Asifa, Sonia Balani. The four bond well, but Asifa, who is part of an Islamic Jihadi group, begins to influence the group. She frequently insists that there is only one religion and one god in the world, warning that people who don’t believe in this will never attain salvation.

Asifa, along with Abdul and Rameez, creates an atmosphere of fear and manipulation among the group. Over time, Shalini and Geethanjali start wearing the hijab and begin to believe in the ideology that only one god exists. Meanwhile, Nimah, sensing something is wrong, starts to distance herself from the group and eventually parts ways.

Shalini becomes romantically involved with Rameez and soon finds herself pregnant. Under pressure, she is forced to convert to Islam. However, Rameez abandons her, as per the group’s plan, leaving her vulnerable and alone. She is then coerced into marrying Ishaq, believing that he will provide a secure future for her and her unborn child. At the wedding ceremony, her mother desperately tries to stop her and bring her home, but a brainwashed Shalini refuses and leaves her mother in tears.

What Shalini does not know is that her marriage is just another step in the plan. During her honeymoon in Sri Lanka, her phone is confiscated. Instead of flying back to India, she is flown to Pakistan, where she is then illegally trafficked across multiple borders, enduring a harrowing journey that eventually leads her to Syria. There, she is groomed to become a suicide bomber, her life completely taken over by the group’s extremist agenda.