Actor Mohanlal’s mega-budget project with director VA Shrikumar Menon is all set to go on floors. However, some right-wing groups in Kerala are not pleased with the film’s projected title, Mahabharatham.
KP Sasikala, the president of the Kerala Hindu Aikya Vedi, said on Sunday that she will not allow the actor’s film to be named Mahabharatham, as it was one two epics revered by Hindus. Speaking at a meeting of the Aikya Vedi in Thrissur, Sasikala said that MT Vasudevan Nair’s classic novel Randamoozham on which the film is based, paints a factually and historically incorrect picture of the Mahabharatha. “It violates the rights of Ved Vyas, the author of [the epic] Mahabharatham,” she said.
“We hear that a big-budget project, even bigger than Baahubali, is being planned in Kerala, under the title Mahabharatham. Ved Vyas is the author of Mahabharatham, the epic that Hindu community is proud of. We will not let any film, which misrepresents the Ved Vyas’ version, be named Mahabharatha. Let them name it Randamoozham,” she said.
Shrikumar Menon’s film has a budget of Rs. 1000 crores, bankrolled by a businessman based in the Middle-East, BR Shetty. Randamoozham is a retelling of the Mahabharatha from the perspective of Bheema, the second of the Pandava siblings. Lal plays the role of Bheema.
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A primary school teacher of history, Sasikala’s speech was rife with blunders. She said that Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was a retelling of the Bible. In fact, the Da Vinci Code is a mystery thriller with elements of fiction, history, science, and fantasy, which explores the history of religions and Jesus Christ’s personal life. Also, there is no historical evidence which corroborates that Ved Vyas, the blind saint who is believed to have written the Mahabharatha with the help of Ganapati, the elephant-headed God, ever existed.