Aamir Again Into Controvercies

The forest department has admitted in an affidavit filed in the Gujarat High Court that it had not told Bollywood star Aamir Khan that his request to feature the "Chinkara" (deer) in the film "Lagaan" had been rejected.

The affidavit was filed yesterday by deputy conservator of forest, Kutch district, V T Korvadia in reply to the film star's petition to quash a complaint lodged by the forest department in a lower court at Bhuj.

Khan and four of his unit members have been accused of illegally filming the protected chinkara during the shooting of 'Lagaan' in 2000. The entire film was shot in the Kutch district of Gujarat.

Before filing the affidavit, the forest department had been claiming that it had never granted Khan permission to film the chinkara during production of his film 'Lagaan'.

In the affidavit, forest official maintained that the film unit had filmed the chinkara without permission and thereby committed an offence, and then the animal was allegedly made to disappear.

The affidavit also claimed that Khan had committed an offence by entering the forest area without permission, and reiterated that since the chinkara was shown dead in the film, it was actually killed.

Earlier, in their petition, Khan and his unit members had said that all allegations levelled against them were false. They had also claimed that the footage of shooting the chinkara was borrowed from a company in Mumbai.