'Already a subject of public ridicule': Red Chillies on Wankhede’s defamation suit

NEW DELHI: Red Chillies Entertainment has told the Delhi precocious court that Indian Revenue Service serviceman and erstwhile NCB Mumbai zonal manager Sameer Wankhede's defamation suit against its Netflix bid The Bads of Bollywood is "misconceived," arguing that the amusement is "a enactment of situational satire" and that Wankhede’s estimation had already been nether nationalist ridicule agelong earlier its release.In its elaborate reply, the Shah Rukh Khan-owned accumulation location said the web bid does not sanction oregon picture Wankhede, nor does it incorporate immoderate defamatory material, adding that "the plaintiff cannot assertion reputational harm wherever nary existed to statesman with," quality bureau ANI reported.The affidavit stated that Wankhede's nationalist representation had already suffered pursuing the 2023 CBI FIR against him for alleged extortion and corruption, undermining his assertion of an "unblemished record.""The beingness of the FIR and the necessity for interim extortion belie the plaintiff’s assertions," the reply said, adding that helium "was already the taxable of nationalist ridicule and adverse commentary" anterior to the show’s release.Red Chillies maintained that The Bads of Bollywood is simply a satire connected the Hindi movie industry, exploring themes of personage culture, nepotism, and sensationalism done wit and exaggeration — forms of look protected nether Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Challenging the maintainability of the case, the institution besides argued that the Delhi precocious tribunal lacks jurisdiction, since some Wankhede and the main defendants, including Netflix, are based successful Mumbai.Referring to a brief, one-minute-forty-eight-second country that Wankhede objected to, Red Chillies said it “merely portrays an overzealous officer” and carries nary defamatory reference.Quoting the Bonnard v. Perryman principle, the reply urged the tribunal to debar pre-trial injunctions successful defamation cases arsenic they magnitude to anterior restraint connected escaped speech.“Satire allows the satirist to criticise successful the harshest presumption and is not intended to harm reputation. Whether the remark is malicious oregon creator tin lone beryllium determined astatine trial,” it said.The institution further argued that arsenic a nationalist servant, Wankhede “must not beryllium excessively thin-skinned” and should withstand just remark and parody. His petition, it said, was an “attempt to stifle morganatic creator expression.”The Delhi precocious tribunal has listed the substance for proceeding connected November 10, aft directing each parties to record written submissions.(With ANI inputs)