Indian State Criticized Bollywood Film

An Indian state has ordered on Friday no cinemas to screen a controversial film featuring the most glamorous Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai after violent demonstrations.

Many people from India's Rajput community have held angry protests over the image of a love story between King Mughal Akbar and a Hindu princess, saying the film has distorted the history and demonstrated their ancestors in poor light.

"The screening of the film was suspended and not prohibited," Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of central state of Madhya Pradesh, said in Bhopal.

"Jodhaa Akbar" - said to be one of the most expensive films ever made by Bollywood - depicts a love story between the 16th century Mughal Akbar sovereign and the Rajput princess Jodha Bai. But Rajputs say Jodha Akbar was actually the daughter-in-law. In addition, they say that their wives were fiercely opposed to marriage with the Mughals.

Several bands have attacked cinemas and forced disruption of the film in many cities throughout the northern and central India.

Cinemas in the western state of Rajasthan, where the protests began, have refused to show the film after threats of violence.