While Mani Ratnam is not totally against cinematic liberties, the prison escape scene featuring Karthi in 'Cheliyaa' ('Kaatru Veliyidai') has come to be seen as a flight of fantasy gone too far. There is a sequence in the film where, the Indian prisoners Karthi and his two friends escape from Pakistan Prison and their Army Men. Critics have it that this escape sequence was highly cinematic and unbelievable.

What if we told you this happened for real? When Naga Chaitanya became an IPS officer just to avenge the villain in 'Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo', many were taken aback. But Gautham Menon later explained how it was a true incident which took place in Tamil Nadu! Something similar has happened with respect to 'Cheliyaa'.

When Flight Lieutenant Dilip Parulkar was shot down over Pakistan on 10 December 1971, he quickly turned that catastrophe into the greatest adventure of his life. On 13 August 1972 Parulkar, along with Malvinder Singh Grewal and Harish Sinhji escaped from a POW camp in Rawalpindi. Four Miles To Freedom is their story.

'Four miles to freedom' is a book written by Ms. Faith Johnston. It depicts their real story. 'Cheliyaa' borrows incidents from this book.Most of what Karthi and his friends do to escape are from real incidents.