Why the brouhaha over 'Mangal Pandey', asks Sharmila Tagore

New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Veteran actress and Central Board of Film Certification chairperson Sharmila Tagore Thursday criticised the brouhaha over the film "Mangal Pandey - The Rising" that has been slapped with legal notices for distorting facts.

"It is only a film and a story told in a certain manner... it is not history, so why are people making so much out of it? I don't understand," Tagore told Aaj Tak television channel.

Her remarks came shortly after the Delhi High Court issued notices to Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who played the title role in the film, actress Rani Mukherjee and five others on a suit seeking a stay on the screening of "Mangal Pandey - The Rising".

The court asked them to respond by Sep 21 to the suit filed by Raghunath Pandey and Onkarnath Pandey, who claim that they are descendants of Mangal Pandey, the Indian sepoy widely believed to have triggered what is known as India's first war of independence in 1857.

Among other things, the suit alleged that the film had shown Mangal Pandey in a relationship with a nautch girl, which they said was "out of context" and "unhistorical".

They have pleaded for the offending portions to be deleted before the film is screened further.

Tagore said such debates were an attempt to breed sectarianism in a secular country like India. "This will divide the country all the more. We have to be more proactive - it is unfortunate that a film that depicts the hero of the first war of independence should be dragged into so much controversy."

The actress, who took over as censor board chairperson last year, feared that people were becoming "very, very" critical.

"I don't understand who is going to gain from these things."

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Mangal Pandey - The Rising