`Veeraputhran` runs into controversy

Thiruvananthapuram: A biographical film on Mohammed Abdul Rahman Sahib - a prominent freedom fighter in the Malabar region - has run into controversy with allegation from certain quarters that the director was "distorting" history to fetch a market for the movie. `Veeraputhran-The Legend` is the film by noted film-maker P T Kunhu Mohammed is accused of giving indications that Rahman Sahib was poisoned to death while official history states that he had a natural death. Writer Hameed Chennamangalur, from whose ancestral family house Rahman Sahib had his last dinner and later collapsed at a nearby market, said the insinuation in the film that his food was poisoned "not only distorts history but defames my ancestors." Abdul Rahman Sahib died in 1945 at the age of 47 was one of the key leaders of the Congress and Khilafat movement in Malabar in the fight against British rule. Asked about the row, director Kunhu told reporters that he had not tried to distort history in the movie. "History is not a monopoly of anyone and there can be different interpretations. I have conducted an investigation in my own style by eliciting views of eminent historians and the local people," he said. Hameed said such `fake historical biopics` would mislead future generations and wanted the film to be withdrawn from theatres. He was also planning to move court against the director. He said it was cruel to portray a natural death as murder. The doctor who treated Rahman Sahib had clearly mentioned that he died of heart attack.This fact was also there in the biography of Sahib written jointly by his compatriots,he said. Talking about his unique friendship with Shah Rukh Khan which started on the sets of TV serial `Circus`, Deshpande said that probably the Bollywood superstar and he share the same energy. "I think it is the energy that`s what is common between us. I remember when we were working on `Circus`, everyone had different dreams. I was the only person, who did not want to achieve something. I just wanted to live but I have this energy for life without having big goals," the actor said. Deshpande said that he finds that theatre has more freedom for an artiste while the visual medium is limited. "In theatre you can have a character without showing him but not in the visual medium where you have to show everything. It is restricting for an artiste," he added. PTI