Thursday, September 1 2005 13:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Delhi High court today (Sept 1, 2005) issued notices to Bollywood actors Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee and the Producers, Director, Story writer and Distributor of the film 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising' on a petition filed by the descendants of the revolutionary, seeking a stop on the screening of the film.

Justice O P Dwivedi asked Khan, Mukherjee, Producers Bobby Bedi and Deepa Sahi, director Ketan Mehta, storywriter Farooq Dhondy and distributor Yash Chopra to file their replies by September 21, 2005, the next date of hearing.

The petition, filed through advocate M T Siddiqui for Mangal Pandey's descendants Raghunath and Omkar Nath Pandey, also sought notional damages of Re 1 from the defendants.

In the petition, the Pandeys have strongly objected to the portrayal of the character of the first Indian revolutionary in the film in bad light, especially showing him in relationship with a prostitute.