Malayalis roast The Kerala Story 2 trailer with ‘beef-porotta’ jibes on social media

Within hours of the makers of the forthcoming Bollywood movie The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond — a sequel to the controversial film The Kerala Story that sought to portray Kerala in poor light – releasing its official trailer, social media erupted in a storm of resistance, with Malayali handles leading the pushback armed with biting memes.

One scene in the trailer, where a detained woman kicks away a plate of beef declaring, “Will starve to death but will never eat beef,” only to be force-fed by her tormentors, has become the prime target of online ridicule. In response, women have increasingly posted videos and images of themselves eating beef to prove it is no taboo, while memes mocking the makers for being so far divorced from reality have flooded platforms, drawing even more hilarious comments.

An AI-generated video flipped the trailer on its head, showing actors halting midway to ridicule the makers before ending with both the victim and tormentors sharing beef while laughing out loud. Another post featured a serious-looking woman watching the trailer, responding deadpan with a plate of beef in hand that the makers must have mistaken someone else for Malayali women.

A satirical comment, styled as ‘breaking news’, claimed beef prices had skyrocketed in Kerala since the trailer’s release. Another user quipped that the detained woman may have rejected the beef because it wasn’t served with porotta – an obvious nod to Kerala’s popular beef-porotta combo.

Visuals from Malayalam blockbusters such as Godha, Premam, and Hridayam, where protagonists relish beef and porotta, have also resurfaced across social media.

“People used to dung obviously will not like beef,” read one comment in an obvious dig at right-wing groups spearheading cow vigilantism. Another user wondered aloud about holding a beef fest outside theatres screening the movie. “If beef were to be force-fed, half of Kerala’s population would have queued up,” read another sarcastic remark. Many users have also posted elaborate recipes for beef delicacies.

Kerala had witnessed a similar backlash on social media and beyond when the prequel, The Kerala Story, won awards for Best Director and Best Cinematographer at the 71st National Film Awards last year. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had led the storm of criticism that time as well. It had also also triggered a wave of social media posts and videos titled ‘The Real Kerala Story,’”portraying narratives of communal harmony from the State.

This time too, the trailer has invited sharp criticism from Mr. Vijayan. AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal too slammed the movie as part of “Sangh Parivar agenda” to show Kerala in poor light and to create “false and communal hatred” in the State.