Shalini Unnikrishnan’s Real Story, titled “The Kerala Story,” based on a true incident, is set to release on May 5. Directed by Sudipto Sen, this movie has received an A certificate, although the High Court of Kerala has refused to release it in cinema halls.
The movie is based on the terrifying true story of Kerala women who joined the ranks of ISIS terrorists. We later learn that some of these women converted from Hinduism and Christianity to Islam in order to join ISIS.
The story begins with the lead character Shalini Unnikrishnan, played by Adah Sharma. In front of the officers, Shalini reveals why and how she joined ISIS. Through her story, we come to understand how Hindu girls were lured into the trap of Love Jihad and forced to convert to Islam.
As we discuss the real-life character Shalini Unnikrishnan, who is based on the life of Nimisha Sampath, also known as Fathima Isa, let’s learn more about her.
The character of Shalini Unnikrishnan is based on the real-life story of Nimisha Alias Fathima Isa. She was one of the girls who, along with four others, fled to Afghanistan. In 2016 and 2018, she was asked to join ISIS for the war against US forces in the ISIS-controlled Khorasan Province.
The identities of the three other girls who were with Fathima Isa were later discovered. They are Sonia Sebastian, also known as Ayisha, Merrin Jacob, also known as Mariyam, and Raffaela, who is known as an ISIS bride. According to sources, Nimisha is currently in an Afghan prison, as her husband, who was an ISIS terrorist, was killed in an attack.
Her actual name was Nimisha Sampath, and she converted from Hinduism to Islam. She later became known as Fathima Isa. She was a BDS student who went missing from her college in November 2015. Along with 19 other girls, she traveled with Rehman to reach the ISIS-controlled area in Afghanistan. Later, we learned that Nimisha and Merrin were married to Bexin Vincent and Bestin Vincent, respectively. After embracing Islam, Nimisha became Fathima, and Merrin became Mariyam. Nimisha was pregnant when she left the country, and in 2016 she gave birth to a girl named Ummu Kulusu.
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Nimisha aka Fathima got brainwashed by an ISIS frontman who lived in Kerala named Abdul Rashid. In May 2016, before leaving India she said to her family that she was going in Sri Lanka for study purpose. But, she was with her husband first they went to Syria and then later in Afghanistan. After Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi died a group of 10 women and 21 children surrendered infront of Afghanistan Authorities in 2019.
Also, the main cause of their surrender was that their husbands died in fights with the forces. Later, these forces put them in jail. While the whole incident happened in Afghanistan, news of Indian involvement in ISIS, with some individuals now in an Afghan jail, spread. Nimisha’s family spotted her daughter in a photo in Afghanistan with her husband Bexin and child. Bexin’s family also confirmed that it was their son.
After all these incidents occurred, Nimisha’s mother claimed that her daughter is a religious and patriotic individual. She mentioned that her daughter changed her religion due to the case of Love Jihad. She also mentioned that Fathima had a forced abortion by Syed Rahman. She added how her daughter got brainwashed at a coaching center near Thiruvananthapuram by some doctors and terrorists. Although Nimisha was not aware that her husband was an ISIS terrorist, she easily fell in love with him. Fathima’s mother filed a petition to release her daughter along with her four-year-old granddaughter. Later, during the interrogation by Indian investigation agencies of the four women who were in Kabul, they discovered strong Islamic terrorism ties among them.
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The Indian Government did not allow the return of the four women who joined ISIS: Sonia, also known as Ayisha; Nimisha, also known as Fathima; Merrin, also known as Mariyam; and Raffaela. Bindu Sampath sought help from PM Modi because she has faith in him. After the Taliban seized Afghanistan in August, many prisoners were set free. Nimisha and her daughter, along with others, were released by the Taliban group. The Taliban offered Indian authorities to take them, but the Indian Government was not interested.
This movie depicts the life journey of Shalini Unnikrishnan and her involvement in ISIS. Adah Sharma portrays the role of Shalini, who was actually Nimisha Sampath, also known as Fathima Isa, in real life. From the movie, we also learn that there were at least 32,000 women who joined ISIS and are spending their lives in Afghan jails, just like Shalini.