Days after businessman Ashok Kheny announced his plan to cast Rajinikanth in his upcoming project based on the life of Tipu Sultan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and RSS-affiliated groups such as the Hindu Munnani and the Hindu Makkal Katchi in Tamil Nadu have reportedly warned the superstar not to be part of the film.

The groups claim that the 18th century ruler of Mysore was 'anti-Tamil' and alleged that since Tipu is considered a 'murderer', glorifying him through the film will be inappropriate. 

"Tipu Sultan was a tyrant, a murderer... So if someone is making a film showing Tipu as a hero then it is distortion of history," BJP national secretary H Raja said, according to CNN-IBN.

However, Rajinikanth hasn't commented on taking up the project.

In an earlier report, the producer had said that he finalised the film based on Tipu after discussing it with the superstar.

"I talked to Rajinikanth before he fell sick. All the films that we talked about were historical and had a conflict between Hindus and Muslims. It was either Muslim king fighting against Hindu king or Hindu king fighting against Muslim king. Then we came across Tipu and we realized that he was the only king with whom Hindus and Muslim supported to fight a foreign king. Then we thought what an idea to make a film on Tipu and no better to star other than Rajinikanth," said Kheny. 

The superstar is currently working on his upcoming film "Kabali", written and directed by Pa. Ranjith. The film, which also has Radhika Apte, Prakash Raj, Kishore, Kalaiyarasan, Dhansika and Dinesh Ravi in pivotal roles, is said to be a content-oriented subject.

Also Read