Kerala filmmaker, actor quit film on Malabar rebellion

Amidst a political row over the century-old Malabar rebellion in Kerala, known filmmaker Aashiq Abu and actor Prithviraj Sukumaran reportedly decided to quit from a film project based on the 1921 rebellion.

The Malayalam film 'Variyamkunnan' announced last year was caught up in a row earlier as BJP and Hindu Aikya Vedi alleged that it was an attempt of CPM to glorify the Malabar Rebellion leader Variyamkunath Kunjahammed Haji especially since Ashique Abu was a left sympathiser. Both Abu and Prithviraj also faced cyber attacks.

Abu told a section of media on Wednesday that differences with producers were the reason for quitting the project.

Incidentally, the state is now witnessing a row over the Malabar rebellion now as a panel reviewing entries to the fifth edition of the Indian Council of Historical Research’s (ICHR) Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle recommended that Malabar rebellion could not be considered as freedom struggle as it was a rebellion against the landlords who were Hindus and no slogans against British rule were raised.

While BJP and other Hindutva leaders were maintaining that the Malabar rebellion was against the Hindu landlords, the left front's view is that it was a rebellion against the British rule only. RSS leader Ram Madhav even termed the Malabar rebellion as a first manifestation of Talibanism in the country.