The Delhi High Court Thursday decided to watch the film "Mangal Pandey - The Rising" to consider allegations by kin of the freedom fighter that he had been depicted in a unflattering manner in the movie.

Judge A.K. Sikri decided to watch the film following a request by counsel for the petitioners and the producer and director of the movie. It was decided that Sikri would watch the film Nov 27 at 4 p.m. at a theatre to be chosen Friday.

On a request by a reporter covering the court proceedings, Sikri also allowed the scribe to watch the movie along with the judge and counsel.

The court has been hearing a petition filed by descendents of the freedom fighter Mangal Pandey, accusing the producer and the director of the film of denigrating the historic role of Mangal Pandey in the First War of Independence in 1857.

Pandey is widely described as the man who had triggered a mutiny by Indian soldiers serving in the British army, but some historians have questioned such accounts.