Indian Billboard uses Morgan Freeman's photo for tribute to Nelson Mandela

An Indian billboard mourning Nelson Mandela's death has been put up in India using a photo of actor Morgan Freeman 

The memorial to Mandela was placed in the city of Coimbatore by the side of a road.

The condelence message read"We should be proud that we were part of an era when they lived,' 

Cloth merchant Chandrashekhar, who paid for the board in a private capacity as a mark of respect to the former South African leader, said it was a mistake by the designer.

'We will replace it with the correct picture of Mandela,' the merchant, who uses one name, told AFP by telephone from Chennai, adding that he did not know how the gaffe occurred.

Morgan Freeman played Mandela in 2009 film Invictus which is probably how the mistake arose