The Delhi High Court has sided with Sameer Wankhede in his legal battle against Red Chillies Entertainment over Aryan Khan’s show The Bads of Bollywood*. Sameer Wankhede, the former NCB officer, had claimed that the show defamed him.
Although the show is intended to be satirical, the court acknowledged during the hearing that it seemed to be biased against Sameer Wankhede.
The series' makers claimed that it was satire, but the court noted that even satire can express prejudice, and in this instance, it appeared to have been impacted by the actual history between Aryan Khan and Wankhede.
Red Chillies, Netflix, and Aryan Khan were sued for defamation by Wankhede, who claimed that a character in the show made fun of him because he looked like him. This is in the context of Aryan's 2021 arrest during an NCB raid that Wankhede oversaw, even though all of the charges against him were later withdrawn.
In the series, a fictional officer arrests an actor on false drug charges, which many viewers have noted bears a striking resemblance to Sameer Wankhede.
Representing Red Chillies, Senior Advocate Kaul defended the show, saying, “I am entitled to do this. You are putting a gun to my head in the plaint. I can claim that I am inspired by characters.
Anyone—a producer or paparazzi—can come forward tomorrow saying a character resembles them.” Kaul also referred to the work of cartoonist RK Laxman, who famously satirized the Prime Minister, to highlight the tradition of satire in India.
The court, however, countered that unlike Laxman’s work, 'The Bads of Bollywood' showed clear bias, considering the past interactions between Aryan Khan and Sameer Wankhede. Wankhede has requested compensation and the removal of the scenes that depict the character resembling him.
This series marks the directorial debut of Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, with 'The Bads of Bollywood.'
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