Thiruvananthapuram: BJP State President Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had greeted the film’s release positively on Thursday, took a sharp U-turn on Sunday following severe backlash from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and criticised the Mohanlal-starring film L2: Empuraan for "distorting truth".

In a Facebook post, Chandrasekhar said, "A movie should be watched as a movie. It can't be seen as history. Any movie that tries to build a story by distorting the truth is doomed to fail."

He had struck a different tune on Thursday when the movie was released. “Best wishes, Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran, and team! Look forward to watching and enjoying Empuraan one of these days!” he then wrote on Facebook.

On Sunday, he expressed his disappointment in "this type of moviemaking" and said that he would not be watching the film. "But now I have come to know that the makers of the movie themselves have made 17 amendments in the movie, and that the movie is undergoing re-censorship. I understand that there were topics in the movie that disturbed Mohanlal fans and other viewers," he wrote on the makers' decision to re-edit the film.

'Empuraan' is the second instalment of the much-hyped franchise, 'Lucifer'. The film opened to mixed reviews but courted controversy over its anti-right-wing political stand. Fundamentalist groups alleged that the film depicts the national leadership in a bad light.

The RSS mouthpiece Organiser criticised the Malayalam film and accused it of using the backdrop of the 2002 post-Godhra riots to push an 'anti-Hindu political agenda'. It also said that Prithviraj was a deeply polarising figure.