?We have served a legal notice,? an official in the party?s media office told reporters, asking not to be named said yesterday.

He did not give any details but the Indian media reported that the notice had also been sent to the film?s producer Sunanda Murli Manohar and journalist Rasheed Kidwai, on whose book the film is based.

The director had earlier said that Gandhi, widow of former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was aware of the film but not involved in the project.

People close to the Gandhi clan ? India?s most influential political family ? say that Sonia Gandhi is very shy, which could be the main reason for the party?s apprehensions over the film.

Gandhi?s life has been marked by tragedy with mother-in-law Indira, a former premier, killed by her own Sikh bodyguards in 1984 and Rajiv, who succeeded his mother as prime minister, assassinated seven years later in a suicide bombing.

After a break from public life, Sonia Gandhi agreed to head the Congress party that swept back to power in 2004 but she declined the premiership, prompting many to label her ?Saint Sonia?. Last year author Kidwai wrote to the filmmakers expressing concern over Gandhi?s portrayal in the film, in which the director said Italian actress Monica Bellucci was to play the lead role.

?Our client (Kidwai) is concerned about the manner in which the film may be presented to the public as it deals with the life history of a very popular figure,? said the letter sent by Kidwai?s advocates and seen by AFP.?This would have national and international ramifications.?

Kidwai refused to comment on the Congress notice, saying that since his publishers had sold the film rights to the director he was not involved.

The United States-based Mundhra could not be immediately contacted and it was not clear if Congress could stop the making of the film, based on a book already in circulation for three years.

The English-language film, due for completion in December, was to be shot in London, Italy and New Delhi and was to chronicle the 40 years from the time Sonia Gandhi met Rajiv in Britain, where they both studied.

?I feel Sonia Gandhi has a very fascinating life story. She was an Italian citizen married to an Indian,? Mundhra told AFP in June.

?She rules one billion Indian people and she is not even an Indian (by birth). I feel this is a great story to be told and therefore I want to make a film on her life.?