The Sushant Singh Rajput investigation case just took an unlikely turn. After being on the backfoot since the actor passed away, top Bollywood filmmakers are now pushing back against the media trial that has occupied centrestage on Twitter since June. Leading filmmakers, including Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, Aditya Chopra’s Yash Raj Films, Aamir Khan’s Aamir Khan Productions and Salman Khan Films have filed a case in the Delhi High Court against Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami and Pradeep Bhandari, and Times Now’s Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar for their “irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks about the film fraternity”.
Four film industry associations and 34 producers have moved the Delhi High Court to take action against the “irresponsible reporting by certain media houses”. In addition to the above-mentioned film companies, several other prominent names that are a part of the case are Vinod Chopra Films, Excel Entertainment, Ajay Devgn Films, Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures, Kabir Khan Films, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions, among others.
The case is not against the reporting by the media on the ongoing drug trail investigation by the Narcotics Control Bureau, nor into the circumstances of Sushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate passing away. It is against the defaming of Bollywood personalities and Bollywood itself by Republic TV and Times Now.
The statement released by the plaintiffs specifically mentions derogatory terms used by both these media houses, including expressions to describe Bollywood, such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies”, “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “This is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.
The plaintiffs have requested the Honorable High Court to restrain these channels “from making or publishing irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood and its members, and from conducting media trials of film personalities and interfering with the right to privacy of people in the industry.”
This is the most aggressive stand and fightback undertaken by prominent Bollywood personalities against media houses, after months of quietly taking the backlash after Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise.