‘The Kerala Story’ director Sudipto Sen has broken his silence on one of Bollywood’s most talked-about behind-the-scenes fallouts. The filmmaker claimed that producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah “lied” about the reasons behind his exit from ‘The Kerala Story 2’ and revealed that he walked away because he refused to make a film based on what he called “WhatsApp forwards.”
Sudipto Sen reveals why he quit ‘The Kerala Story 2’
In an interview with the Free Press Journal, Sudipto Sen, who spent a decade researching the original film, said he was comfortable making claims only about Kerala, a subject he knew deeply. The trouble began when the scope of the sequel expanded beyond that. “Vipul Ji decided that Kerala Story 2 will not be only Kerala story. It will be the story of Rajasthan; it will be the story of Madhya Pradesh. So then I stepped out because it’s a very sensitive issue… Kerala, I know. I worked for 10 years. I can prove every word I spoke about Kerala. But Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, my knowledge is all about WhatsApp forwards and newspapers, and I don’t want to make films on WhatsApp forwards,” he said.
Sudipto Sen talks about producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah
While Sudipto Sen clarified that he continues to respect producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah personally, he did not hold back about being hurt by the producer’s public version of events. The filmmaker said, “Later I saw that Vipulji said something which is a lie… He should have spoken the truth, but he had chosen to tell the lie because maybe he was not confident about the second part. What I’m annoyed with Vipul Ji is that he didn’t value the impact of the movie and how it belonged to history. When everyone is watching you, you should be careful.”Reports had previously suggested that Shah had allegedly described Sen’s script for the sequel as “trashy,” a claim that added fuel to an already public dispute.Sen admitted he was unimpressed with the final film. He also took issue with the broader “love jihad” narrative it engaged with. “I did not like it, honestly. I have a problem with the word ‘love jihad’ also, because historically India is a place where Hindus and Muslims coexist. Hindu getting married to Muslim or Muslim getting married to Hindu is not a new thing in India. It is part of our cultural beauty.”He added, “My issue was the manipulative conversion. If it is love, then where does conversion come from? Kareena Kapoor did not change her religion, right?” he said.
More about ‘The Kerala Story 2’
‘The Kerala Story’, released in 2023, became one of the most debated films of the year, dealing with themes of religious conversion and radicalisation. Sen wrote and directed the first instalment, which performed strongly at the box office despite polarising critical and public opinion. ‘The Kerala Story 2’ was directed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh. The movie was released in cinemas on February 27, 2026.
