Film star Mohanlal and a textile house major have been served with a legal notice for showing an ad in which the star spins a charkha. Mohanlal, in a commercial promoting the textile house, is shown spinning the wheel and the Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board has issued a legal notice to both the parties to withdraw the ad.

The President of the Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board, Shobhana George, in an interview to the PTI told, “Legal notices have been issued to both the textile group and Mohanlal. There is no connection between the charkha, which is a symbol of the freedom struggle, with the textiles sold by the group.”

She has been reported to have told that the Charkha is used for producing Khadi and its usage in the ad is misleading. Being a Padamshree awardee, Mohanlal has a big responsibility to the society and should refrain from appearing in such misleading ads, she had added. Besides the Padmashree, Mohanlal has been bestowed with various honors and titles including the Honorary Lieutenant Colonel by the Indian Army, Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and University of Calicut, the Indian Medical Association Award, Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), etc.

On the work front, Mohanlal has a number of films lined up for release. His ambitious project Odiyan is in the post production mode and will hit the marquee on October 11th this year. The star appears three get-ups in the film and had shed around 20 kilos of weight for a get-up in it. Besides Odiyan, he has a couple of other film releases – Kayamkulam Kochunni and Drama. While in Kayamkulam Kochunni he will be seen in an extended cameo, in Drama he plays the main