'Mangal Pandey' continues to haunt Aamir Khan

In the legal battle over the portrayal of Mangal Pandey in the Aamir Khan-starrer Mangal Pandey-The Rising, a local court here today rejected the star's claim that the petitioner, Santosh Pandey, was not a descendant of the war hero.

It was five years ago that the film was released and Santosh had filed a suit in the court against the star, director Ketan Mehta and producer Bobby Bedi, alleging that the hero of the 1857 uprising was wrongly portrayed in the mega-budget film.

The Bollywood trio's counsel questioned the maintainability of the writ and claimed that Mangal Pandey did not hail from Nagwa village and neither was he the great grand father of the petitioner.

Rejecting the defence counsel's arguments, civil judge Azad Singh ruled that Mangal Pandey was a resident of Nagwa village in Ballia district and Santosh was a descendant.

The court fixed November 18 as the next date to deliver its verdict on stay on the screening of the movie.