March 24: A critically acclaimed Malayalam film has landed in a controversy with the daughter of a Maoist couple from Kerala sending a legal notice to the makers for using her mother's photograph in a rogues' gallery shown in some sequences.

Ami Roop Shyna, daughter of jailed Maoist couple Shyna and Roopesh, told The Telegraph today that she watched the movie, Angamaly Diaries, on Wednesday and was "shocked" to see her mother's photo pinned to the rogues' gallery of a make-believe police station under the fictitious name Shanta.

"My friends who watched the movie had told me about the wrong portrayal of my mother, but I wanted to see it myself before taking action," said Ami, who lives in Thrissur, central Kerala.

Directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by Chemban Vinod Jose, Angamaly Diaries chronicles life in Angamaly, the northern gateway to Kerala's commercial capital Kochi, and revolves around a righteous gang. The film features 86 debutants. Angamaly Diaries is being referred to in some quarters as the "film of the year".

The legal notice was issued yesterday to director Lijo and producer Vijay Babu.

"We want the scenes that show my mother's photo to be removed. Else, we will file criminal defamation cases against those responsible," Ami said, setting a March 30 deadline.

Lijo did not respond to text messages sent by this newspaper seeking a reaction.

According to Ami, Shyna's photo was shown in three scenes. "Her picture is placed among notorious goons (who are part of the film's cast). That itself is wrong as my mother is not a goon," said the 21-year-old who will pursue a law degree.

Shyna and Roopesh allegedly carried out their activities in the tribal areas of the Tamil Nadu-Kerala-Karnataka tri-junction of the Western Ghats. They had been on the run for several years before being arrested with three others from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 2015. Since then, Shyna has been lodged in Coimbatore Central Jail and Roopesh in Viyyur Central Jail in Thrissur as undertrials.

Ami said her mother had been "falsely implicated" in more than 20 cases. "She has not been allowed a jail transfer to Kerala even after two years," she added.

In a Facebook post, Ami paid tribute to her mother and said she would go down in the history of Kerala's communist movement as one of the few women who dared to take on the "degenerated system" to work for the oppressed.

Ami took serious objection to the portrayal of Shyna as a criminal on the rogues' gallery in the film. "She doesn't face any charge against 'goondaism' or any crime based on personal grudge. Instead, she's in jail for fighting for the oppressed against this degenerated and exploitative system," wrote Ami.

Laiju V.G., Shyna's lawyer who sent out the legal notice, told this newspaper that his client expected the scenes to be deleted at the earliest.

"The filmmakers have violated my client's civil rights as they had no permission to use her photograph in the movie. They can sort this out by deleting the shots where her photo is clearly visible. Otherwise, there will be serious repercussions as we will file a defamation case," the lawyer said.

Laiju, a resident of Kalpetta in the hill district of Wayanad on the Western Ghats, has been fighting four cases involving Shyna in a district court.

He said Ami "fully agrees" that filmmakers have their "creative freedom".

"But this transcends all limits of freedom as it appears to be a deliberate defamation of an individual," Laiju said.