The #BollywoodStrikesBack juggernaut is gaining momentum. And rumours from the corridors of the Delhi High Court are that the film industry’s trade associations and production houses are going after more than Republic TV and Times Now in their united suit seeking injunctive relief against news channels and digital media platforms making derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood. They have reportedly come across others carrying such objectionable content and are including their names as additional defendants.
PeepingMoon.com has exclusively learned that Aaj Tak and ABP News are two other names that the aggrieved film industry is going to be naming in the suit. The two channels are right now going as “unnamed defendants”. DSK Legal, which is representing Bollywood, has confirmed that its client “is not just seeking orders against the channels and platforms named in the suit, but also against unnamed defendants referred to as John Doe/Ashok Kumar”.
[BREAKING] Suit has been filed before Delhi High Court by four Bollywood industry Assns & 34 leading Bollywood producers AGAINST
Republic TV
Arnab Goswami
Pradeep Bhandari
Times Now
Rahul Shivshankar
Navika Kumar @navikakumar @pradip103 @RShivshankar #ArnabGoswami pic.twitter.com/NXAP4w1Uvp— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) October 12, 2020
There is strong speculation that John Doe/Ashok Kumar might well be Aaj Tak and ABP News. There is also a leading Bollywood digital media platform that is likely to be named by the petitioner for publishing libelous content against the industry. DSK Legal added, “This means that any orders passed in favour of the plaintiffs would apply to all television channels and content on digital platforms which may be found violating such orders.” It has clarified that Bollywood is not seeking a blanket gag order against media reportage of investigation of cases as is being erroneously reported.
The Hindi film fraternity came together in an unprecedented show of solidarity and filed a suit in the Delhi High Court two days ago against Republic TV and Times Now and four of their anchors after months of extensive reportage on the Sushant Singh Rajput death case where defamatory words like “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies” and phrases like “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood” were used to describe the industry and its artistes. The plaintiff list included The Film &Television Producers Guild of India (PGI), The Cine & TV Artiste Association (CINTAA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC) and Screenwriters Association (SWA).
