Indian state bars Bollywood film
2008-02-23 22:12
Bhopal, India - An Indian state on Friday ordered cinema halls not to screen a controversial film featuring Bollywood's most glamorous star Aishwarya Rai after violent demonstrations.
Many people from India's Rajput community have staged angry protests over the depiction of a romance between Mughal king Akbar and a Hindu princess, saying the film has distorted history and shown their ancestors in poor light.
"The screening of the film has been suspended and not banned," Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of central Madhya Pradesh state told reporters in Bhopal.
Jodhaa Akbar - said to be one of the most expensive Bollywood movies ever made - depicts a romance between the 16th century Mughal ruler Akbar and Rajput princess Jodha Bai.
But Rajputs say Jodha was in fact Akbar's daughter-in-law.
In addition, they say their women were fiercely opposed to marrying the Mughals.
Several mobs have attacked cinema halls and forced disruption of the film's screening in many cities across north and central India.
Cinema halls in western Rajasthan state, where the protests started, have refused to show the film after threats of violence.
- AFP