Maintaining that uninterrupted screening of Jodhaa Akbar would continue till further orders, the Supreme Court on Friday sought response of the film’s producer, UTV Software Communication Limited, to an application which alleged the film had shown distorted historical facts.

The application by an organisation, Rajput Sabha, has brought to the fore the controversial question: whether Jodha Bai was the daughter or daughter-in-law of emperor Akbar. Alleging distorted facts had been shown in the film, the association urged the Bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, to issue directions to implead the association in the main petition.

According to the Rajput Sabha, Jodha Bai, a Rajput princess, was not the wife of Mughal emperor Akbar but was his daughter-in-law.

The Bench, also comprising Justice RV Raveendran, issued notice to the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The UP Government had come out with a notification banning screening of the Hrithik-Aishwarya starrer in the state. The film was also banned in several other parts of the country, including Haryana and Uttarakhand.

Earlier, UTV had approached the apex court against the restriction contending that such a ban amounted to violation of the Fundamental Right of Freedom of Speech and Expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. According to the producer, such bans were causing huge financial losses to them as they had invested Rs 45 crore in the production and publicity of the movie and the main collection came in the first few weeks of the release.