Mangal Pandey Has the controversy finally ended? 24th Feb 2006
13.15 IST
By ApunKaChoice Bureau
It was in August last year that the Aamir Khan starrer Mangal Pandey The Rising released and flopped at the box-office. But a court case had been lingering till now.
On the release of the film, Raghunath Pandey, the great-grandson of Mangal Pandey, had filed a defamation suit in the court alleging that the hero of 1857 rising was defamed and "mutilated" for commercial purpose.
In his petition he had stated that the characterization of Mangal Pandey as a drunkard who regularly visited brothels and ultimately married Heera (played by Rani Mukherjee in the film), a sex worker was a false depiction and highly derogatory.
It was in this regard Pandey sought the jurisdiction of the court to direct the producer and director to delete portions, which were not in conformity with the character in real life.
But on Wednesday, rejecting the allegations levelled by descendants of Mangal Pandey, the Delhi High Court ruled that the film on the legendary freedom fighter was in no way defamatory or objectionable as claimed by his said descendants.
Justice AK Sikri in his judgment also offered relief to the purported descendants of the martyr stating that henceforth the film will come with an insertion stating that the hero of 1857 freedom struggle died a bachelor and that the character of the prostitute Heera in the movie was fictional.
"The character of Heera is fictionalised. There was no such Heera in the life of Mangal Pandey. Mangal Pandey died a bachelor", the court ruled.
With this ruling, the controversy over the film finally seems to have ended.
RSS
Mangal Pandey Has the controversy finally ended?
