The Kerala Story Real Story, Shalini Unnikrishnan: Among the most controversial movies of 2023, The Kerala Story was finally released on Zee5 on February 16, 2024. After the makers' accusations that the OTT platform had boycotted the movie and The Kerala Story was not able to find any streaming platform despite being declared a box-office success, the movie was released after almost a year on Zee5. While the movie was accused of driving an agenda against a particular religion, the makers had stated that The Kerala Story is a true story. For the unversed, when the trailer was released, the makers called The Kerala Story based on a true story of 32,000 women who were forcefully converted and were later sent to Islamic countries like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan as ISIS recruits. However, after uproar on social media, among political parties and even many lawsuits, the makers amended their statement and stated that The Kerala Story is a real story of 3 women (Shalini Unnikrishnan) with Bollywood actress Adah Sharma portraying the character of Nimisha AKA Fathima Isa. In the movie, Adah Sharma plays the character of Shalini Unnikrishnan. Now, the question arises who is real-life Shalini Unnikrishnan or what happened to Shalini Unnikrishnan or where is real life Shalini Unnikrishnan? Below is everything you need to know-
Who is real-life Shalini Unnikrishnan?
Shalini Unnikrishnan; The Kerala Story's real-life Shalini Unnikrishnan is Nimisha AKA Fathima Isa. Nimisha AKA Fathima Isa, was one of the four women from Kerala who fled to Afghanistan, between 2016 and 2018, to join the terror outfit ISIS and wage war against the US forces in ISIS-controlled Khorasan Province. The three others who were identified as fleeing from India along with Nimisha were Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam and Raffaela. They were given the term 'ISIS Bride'.
What happened to Nimisha Fathima aka Shalini Unnikrishnan (in movie)?
Notably, Nimisha Fathima's real name was Nimisha Sampath before her conversion. In a 2021 report, Nimisha's mother Bindu Sampath stated that her daughter who went missing in 2017, was "brainwashed". She stated she has appealed to Kerala Minister Muraleedharan and others. Not only this, but Bindu also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring her daughter back to India. Bindu stated that her daughter will face Indian laws. To bring back her daughter she also approached the Kerala High Court twice. Now, the question arises where is Nimisha Fathima?
The answer is Afghanistan. As last reported, the Government of India denied the request for extradition of the four Indian women who were lodged in a high-security prison in Afghanistan. Reports suggest that the Taliban had offered India to extradite the Indian women who joined ISIS, but India denied their extradition. Finally, Nimisha Fathima, her daughter hundreds of ISIS and other terrorists were freed by the Taliban after they came to power. What happened thereafter still remains a mystery. Whether Nimisha is living a new life in Afghanistan or she has taken asylum in another country, cannot be determined.