Mollywood actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and director Aashiq Abu have withdrawn from the movie ‘Vaariyamkunnan’, a biopic on Variyamkunnathu Kunjammed Haji. The duo has taken the decision following a difference of opinion with the producers, hints sources.
The team has planned to start shooting on the eve of 100th anniversary of the Malabar rebellion.
Haji is known for raising 75,000 natives, seizing control of large territory from the British rule and setting up a parallel government in open defiance of the British rulers in North Kerala villages Eranadu and Valluvanadu taluks.
Announcing the movie in 2020, Prithviraj took to his social media pages and wrote: "He (Haji) Astood up against an empire that ruled a quarter of the world. Etched out his own country with an army that waged a never before war against the British. Though history was burned and buried, the legend lived on! The legend of a leader, a soldier, a patriot. A film on the man who became the face of the 1921 Malabar revolution.A#Vaariyamkunnan. Filming begins in 2021, on the 100th anniversary."
Following this, Prithviraj faced cyberattack and criticism for associating with the movie which glorify Haji who is allegedly called as a criminal.
PT Kunhammad, Ibrahim Vengara and Ali Akbar were also announced movies on the same subject soon after Aashiq Abu announced the movie.