The makers of the Malayalam movie titled ‘Vaariyamkunnan’ have decided to shelve the project after several people accused the moviemakers of whitewashing the crimes of Jihadists in the name of the freedom movement.
The movie ‘Vaariyamkunnan’ is based on the life of Variamkunnath Kunhamed Haji and Ali Musaliar – the Jihadis responsible for carrying out genocide against thousands of Hindus in Kerala during the early 1920s,
Amidst the growing outrage, the filmmakers have reportedly decided to shelve the controversial project. Director Aashiq Abu has not commented yet, however, sources close to the project said he had cited production issues as the reason for the withdrawal.
According to New Indian Express, the movie ‘Vaariyamkunnan‘ was announced as a joint venture of Compass Movies Ltd and Abu’s OPM Cinemas. However, the producers could not provide sufficient resources to the project, and the differences of opinion led to the scrapping of the project.
Malayalam director Aashiq Abu had cast controversial Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran in his period film titled ‘Vaariyamkunnan’, which was slated to be released in 2021. The controversial movie is based on the story of the Jihadi leaders of the Moplah community, who massacred thousands of Hindus during the Malabar or Moplah communal riots in 1921.
In June 2020, controversial Malayali actor Prithviraj Sukumaran took to Facebook to announce the new movie and hailed the Jihadists in his post. The actor, sharing the posters of the movie, said Variyam Kunnathu stood up against an empire that ruled a quarter of the world.
The new Malayalam movie on the life of Islamic terrorist Variyam Kunnathu, who had unleashed massive terror on Hindus in the Malabar region of Kerala, had created a massive uproar not just in Kerala but across the country.
The moviemakers were accused of whitewashing the crimes of Jihadists of the Moplah Hindu massacre under the garb of freedom of movement. Several people had raised objections against the movie, alleging that the movie was another attempt to absolve crimes by hailing a terrorist as someone who “rebelled” against the British.
They had alleged it is another attempt to erase the history and also a dangerous act of rewriting the history of Malabar or Moplah Hindu massacres to suit their anti-Hindu narrative.
Earlier, one of the scriptwriters of Abu’s ‘Variyamkunnan’ had also quit from the film after his old controversial Facebook posts had re-surfaced on the internet.
Moplah Hindu genocide and Jihadist Variyam Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji
Variyam Kunnathu or Chakkiparamban Variyamkunnathu Kunjahammed Haji, who proclaimed himself to be the “Sultan of Eranad” – the region of Kerala where the Moplah genocide occurred, was, in fact, the Father of the Moplah Hindu genocide, who along with Muslim forces looted and massacred Hindus of the region under the garb of rebelling against the British in the early 1920s.
The Moplah Hindu Genocide, also often whitewashed as the Malabar Rebellion, or the Mappila Rebellion, are a series of incidents in the history of the country, where the Muslims did not only butcher Hindus, but also the entire barbarity was erased from history in its entirety, or altered to fit a suitable political narrative.
The four-month period of horror in the Malabar region of Kerala when Muslim rioters carried out a mass genocide against Hindus started as a freedom struggle against the British but ended up being a reason for the Jihadist Variyamkunnathu to wipe out the Hindu population of northern Kerala.
Along with his friend and aid – Ali Musliyar, Variyam Kunnathu led the Moplah riots in Kerala in 1921 and was an active supporter of the Khilafat movement, which eventually led to the partition of the country and the creation of Pakistan. The estimated Hindu deaths of the ethnic cleansing in the Moplah massacre accounts for somewhere around 10,000, and it is believed that as many a 100,000 Hindus were forced to leave Kerala in the wake of the riots.
The number of Hindu Temples that were destroyed in the genocide is speculated to be a hundred. In addition, the forcible conversion of Hindus were rampant and unspeakable atrocities were poured upon Hindus. It can be read about in more detail here.
The atrocities against Hindus were so barbaric that the leading national leaders of the day had to express their shock against the Moplah massacres.
Babasaheb Ambedkar, in his book, Pakistan or the Partition of India, wrote, “The blood-curdling atrocities committed by the Moplas in Malabar against the Hindus were indescribable. All over Southern India, a wave of horrified feeling had spread among the Hindus of every shade of opinion, which was intensified when certain Khilafat leaders were so misguided as to pass resolutions of “congratulations to the Moplas on the brave fight they were conducting for the sake of religion.”
Annie Besant described the events in her book “The Future of Indian Politics” as, “They murdered and plundered abundantly, and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatize. Somewhere about a lakh of people were driven from their homes with nothing but the clothes they had on, stripped of everything. Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule still means, and we do not want to see another specimen of the Khilafat Raj in India.”
The Malayalam movie “Vaariyamkunnan”, produced by a team mostly of Malabar Muslims, may have just thought that they could ignore the massacres unleashed against Hindus by their forefathers and re-write the history to hail the genocide maniac through their films. It looks like good sense has prevailed as they have now decided to shelve their propaganda movie.
