Anurag Kashyap called The Kerala Story 2 propaganda. Director Kamakhya Narayan Singh responded with a public video challenge. Days passed. Kashyap said nothing. Now producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah is asking the same question out loud — and pointing straight at Kashyap’s own films for context.
Shah spoke to reporters on Friday, hours after the Kerala High Court cleared the film for release. His tone stayed calm. His words did not.
Vipul Shah Keeps It Measured — But Makes It Count
Shah opened with restraint. “I do not comment on Anurag ji personally. He has his own opinion,” he told the media. But he quickly moved to the sharper point.
He noted that director Kamakhya had already raised a specific challenge in a public video. Kashyap has not replied to it. “My director had raised a very good point, but Anurag ji has not yet responded to it,” Shah said. He added that he had hoped Kashyap would speak openly. “Perhaps his answer will come in the coming days,” he said.
That wait, Shah suggested, tells its own story.
Shah Brings Up That Girl in Yellow Boots
This is where the exchange turned into something sharper. Shah pointed to Kashyap’s 2012 film That Girl in Yellow Boots. The film depicted an immoral relationship between a father and daughter. Shah used it as a direct credibility challenge.
“Should the comments of someone who made a film on such a subject be taken seriously?” Shah asked reporters. In Hindi, he said: “Kya unki aisi kisi tippani ko gambhirta se lena chahiye?”
It was a rare move. Most producers deflect criticism. Shah used Kashyap’s own filmography against him. Moreover, it landed with the media present.
Kamakhya Had Already Gone Much Further
Before Shah spoke, director Kamakhya Narayan Singh gave his own response to ANI. He did not hold back. “His films have been flopping for many years. He has become mentally weak. He isn’t able to see the truth,” Kamakhya said.
He went further still. “If he has a problem with the truth shown in our film, it means he has a problem with the entire world,” he added. Kamakhya also offered to send all of the film’s research material to Kashyap’s home. Every scene, he said, comes from real incidents.
Kashyap has not responded to any of this publicly.
Kerala High Court Clears the Film for Release
Meanwhile, the legal battle moved in the film’s favour. A Division Bench of Justices SA Dharmadhikari and PV Balakrishnan lifted the stay on Friday. Earlier, Single Bench Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas had halted the release for 15 days. The Division Bench overturned that order. The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond can now release.
Shah addressed the media on the same day the court ruled. That timing was clearly deliberate. He combined a legal win with a direct media offensive against his film’s most vocal critic.
This Feud Points to a Deeper Industry Divide
However, this is not just a personal spat. It reflects a wider fault line in Hindi cinema. On one side sits Anurag Kashyap — a filmmaker known for dark, morally complex stories and sharp ideological stances. On the other side stands the Kerala Story franchise — commercially successful, politically charged, and audience-validated in ways that make arthouse critics uncomfortable.
When Kashyap called the beef-eating scene unrealistic, he probably expected a standard denial. Instead, he got a structured counter-attack with historical references. That shift matters. Furthermore, it signals that filmmakers backing nationalist-leaning content are no longer playing defence.
