A week after the central government decided to remove the names of Variamkunnath Kunhamed Haji, Ali Musaliar and 387 other "Moplah martyrs" from the Dictionary of Martyrs of India's Freedom Struggle, popular Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and director Arshia Abu have withdrawn from a film based on the same theme.

As reported, Abu and Prithviraj are said to have withdrawn owing to differences with the producers of the movie titled 'Variankunnan'. Both had got a lot of flak last year when the film, along with other three on the same theme, had been announced to be released on the centenary year of the rebellion.

Prithviraj, who was slated to play the protagonist in the film, on its release, had said that Haji ‘stood up against an empire that ruled a quarter of the world'.

The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) report has recently concluded, after reviewing historical data, much to the displeasure of left leaders in Kerala, that "there was nothing nationalistic about the actions of these 387 Moplahs" and that "almost all Moplah outrages were communal and against Hindu society, done out of sheer intolerance".