‘The Kerala Story’ director Sudipto Sen has broken his silence on one of Bollywood’s most talked about behind-the-scenes incidents. The director claimed that producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah “lied” about his reasons for exiting ‘The Kerala Story 2’ and revealed that he walked out because he refused to make a film based on what he called ‘WhatsApp Forwards’.
Sudipto Sen reveals why he left 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 about. The problem started when the scope of the sequel expanded beyond that. “Vipul ji decided that the story of Kerala 2 will not just be a Kerala story. It will be a Rajasthan story; it will be a Madhya Pradesh story. So I came out because it is a very sensitive issue… I know Kerala.”
I worked for 10 years. I can prove every word I spoke about Kerala. “But my knowledge in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is about WhatsApp service providers and newspapers, and I don’t want to make films with WhatsApp service providers,” he said.
Sudipto Sen talks about producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah
While Sudipto Sen made it clear that he still respects producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah personally, he did not back down from being hurt by the producer’s public version of events. The director said, “Later I saw that Vipulji said something and it was a lie… He should have told the truth, but he chose to tell the lie because maybe he was not confident about the second part.
What bothered me about Vipul Ji is that he did not appreciate the impact of the film and how it belongs to history.
When everyone is watching you, you have to be careful.”Reports had previously suggested that Shah had described Sen’s script for Part 2 as “trashy”, a claim that intensified an already public dispute.Sen admitted that he was not a fan of the finished film. He also took issue with the broader “love jihad” narrative with which he deals.
“Honestly, I didn’t like it. I have a problem with the word ‘love jihad’ too, because historically India is a place where Hindus and Muslims coexist. A Hindu marrying a Muslim or a Muslim woman marrying a Hindu is nothing new in India. It’s part of our cultural beauty.”He added: “My issue was manipulative conversion. If it is love, where does the conversion come from? Kareena Kapoor did not change her religion, right?” He said.
More about “Kerala Story 2”
“The Kerala Story”, which was released in 2023, became one of the most controversial films of the year, as it dealt with themes of religious conversion and extremism. Sen wrote and directed the first part, which performed strongly at the box office despite polarizing public and critical opinion. ‘Kerala Story 2’ is directed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh. The film was released in cinemas on February 27, 2026.