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Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar seems to have opened a can of controversies, with some Rajputs claiming that Akbar's wife was in fact, not Jodhaa.

The film has been banned in Rajasthan, while protests were staged in Uttar Pradesh when it released.

But Jodhaa Akbar is not the film historical to take cinematic liberty where hard facts were concerned. Quite a few films made in the past have distorted history. We take a look:

Mughal-E-Azam

In this K Asif classic, the film showed Emperor Akbar's son Salim (also known as Emperor Jehangir) falling in love with a court dancer, Anarkali, and disobeying his father's orders to forget her.

Salim challenges his father to a battle. Salim loses, forcing Anarkali to surrender. She is buried alive. But since Akbar had a soft heart, he later allowed her to escape.

Fact: The biggest debate was whether Anarkali actually existed. Even in Emperor Jehangir's autobiography, there is no mention of Anarkali, and his love for a court dancer.

In the picture: Prithviraj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in Mughal-e-Azam

Amrapali

Lekh Tandon's film showed the Samrat Ajashtru of Magadh (a district in modern Bihar), who was bent on conquering the world.

He is constantly on the battlefield, and his astrologer, army chiefs and even his mother plead with him to stop the wars and rest, as his soldiers are tired.

Against their wishes, Ajashtru wages a war on the kingdom of Vaishali (another district in modern Bihar). He gets wounded and lands up at the house of Amrapali, a nagarvadhu (court dancer).

She treats his wounds and falls in love with him, not knowing that he is the king of Magadh, who tried to destroy her kingdom.

Meanwhile, the king of Vaishali learns about the love affair between Ajashatru and Amrapali, and in a rage, he burns the city, killing many.

Ajashatru rescues Amrapali. But by now, she learns the truth, and feels cheated. She rejects him, and follows the path of Buddhism.

Fact: Amrapali was a very beautiful woman, and stories of her beauty reached Magadh. King Bimbisara, the king of Magadh, attacked Vaishali and fell in love with her. They had a son together, Vimala Kondanna.

But Bimbisara was Ajashatru's father as well. So whom did Amrapali actually belong to?

Asoka

Santosh Sivan's Asoka shows the great king leading a common man's life, in order to avoid a threat to his life.

On his travels, he meets Princess Kaurwaki and Prince Arya, who are on the run from their kingdom, Kalinga, after their parents were killed.

Asoka and Kaurwaki fall in love, and marry. However, neither of them reveal their real identities to each other.

One day, Asoka is told to return to his kingdom, as his mother falls ill. When he tries to find Kaurwaki, she goes missing.

Asoka meets a Buddhist maiden Devi and marries her.

Later, circumstances lead him to wage a war against Kalinga, which causes widespread destruction and devastation.

Fact: Emperor Ashoka had many wives; so many that their names don't even find a mention in history. Devi was his fourth wife, who gave him twins -- Prince Mahindra and Princess Sanghamitra -- who turned to Buddhism as well.

Kaurwaki was not a princess but a fisherwoman by birth. There isn't much evidence to suggest that she was Ashoka's wife.

And of course, one wonders if Ashoka the Great danced around trees, like it was shown in the film!