 Veerapandiya Kattabomman has often been criticised because of its historical inaccuracies. Randor Guy stated in 2015 that a Tamil weekly even went to the extent of saying, "[...] a new face called Kattabomman acted brilliantly as Sivaji Ganesan! ” Poet Kannadasan said," Kattabomman was not a real freedom fighter; he was a Telugu and a robber. " He also stated that the Maruthu Pandiyars were the real freedom fighters and wrote a script about them, which was adapted into the film, Sivagangai Seemai. The film was released in the same month as Veerapandiya Kattabomman, but failed at the box office. Kannadasan's statement was supported by writer Lena Tamizhvanan, who denounced Kattabomman's glorification.
