Kozhikode: T Hariharan's magnum opus ''Pazhassiraja,'' today ran into legal problems with surviving descendants of a prominient character in the film threatening to sue its makers for allegedly denigrating him.

Addressing a press conference here, the relatives of Edachana Kunkan said they had issued a legal notice to Director T Hariharan, Producer Gokulam Gopalan and script writer M T Vasudevan Nair for ''distorting historical facts'' by denigrating him as an orphan in the storyline of the film.

They urged the makers of the film to construct a suitable memorial for the tribal warrior as a compensation for showing him as an orphan brought up by the king Pazhassiraja whereas records showed that he was a landlord with vast land holdings in Wayanad district.

In fact, Pazhassiraja, the first Indian to revolt against the British, was given shelter and protection by Kunkan, portrayed by Tamil actor Saratkumar in the film, while the former was in exile in a dense forest in Wayanad after his kingdom was snatched by the invaders, they claimed.

The film in which megastar Mammootty played the title role also showed that Kunkan committed suicide before Pazhassiraja's death whereas records do not corroborate this fact, they said.

Demanding unconditional apology from the filmmakers through print and visual media and websites and an assurance on the memorial, the descendants said they would be forced to take legal action if their demands were not met immediately.

From MyNews.In