Top film producers move Delhi High Court against ‘irresponsible, derogatory’ reporting by select media houses

New Delhi: At least 38 leading production houses in Bollywood have approached the Delhi High Court against “irresponsible and derogatory” reporting by a few media houses. A civil suit has been filed by them, praying that the court directs the two news channels and unknown defendants as well as social media platforms to refrain from making or publishing irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against the film industry as a whole and members of the fraternity.

The suit also sought to restrain the news channels from conducting media trials of Bollywood personalities and interfering with the right to privacy of people associated with the film industry.

The plaintiffs also prayed that the defendants abide by the provisions of the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, and to withdraw, recall and take down all defamatory content published by them against Bollywood.

The development is in response to usage of "highly derogatory words and expressions for Bollywood" by these channels; they said that terms such as "dirt", "filth", "scum" and other expressions were used for Bollywood over the past few months.

The suit said that Bollywood is a distinct and well recognised class, comprising the Hindi film industry in Mumbai. Since several years Bollywood is a huge source of revenue for the public exchequer, earns significant foreign exchange for India by way of revenue from overseas releases of films, tourism etc, and is a big source of employment, with various other industries also being largely dependent on it. 

It added that Bollywood is unique and stands on a different footing from any other industry inasmuch as it is an industry that is dependent almost solely on goodwill, appreciation and acceptance of its audience. The livelihood of persons associated with Bollywood is being severely impacted by the smear campaign being run by the Defendants. This is in addition to the ongoing pandemic which has resulted in extreme revenues and work opportunity loss. The privacy of the members of Bollywood is being invaded, and their reputations are being irreparably damaged by painting the entire Bollywood as criminals, seeped in drug culture, and making being part of Bollywood as synonymous with criminal acts in the public imagination.

Here’s the full list of plaintiffs:

The Producers Guild of India
The Cine & TV Artiste Association
The Film and TV Producers Council
Screenwriters Association
Aamir Khan Productions
Ad-Labs Films
Ajay Devgn Films
Andolan Films
Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network
Arbaaz Khan Productions
Ashutosh Gowariker Productions
BSK Network and Entertainment
Cape of Good Films
Clean Slate Filmz
Dharma Productions
Emmay Entertainment & Motion Pictures
Excel Entertainment
Filmkraft Productions
Hope Production
Kabir Khan Films
Luv Films
Macguffin Pictures
Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment
One India Stories
R.S. Entertainment
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures
Red Chillies Entertainment
Reliance Big Entertainment
Reel Life Productions
Rohit Shetty Pictures
Roy Kapur Productions
Salman Khan Ventures
Sohail Khan Productions
Sikhya Entertainment
Tiger Baby Digital
Vinod Chopra Films
Vishal Bhardwaj Film
Yash Raj Films

According to the plaintiffs, the channels in question have been regularly flouting the Programme Code framed under Section 5 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and contained in Rule 6 of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, which governs the television channels owned and operated by these Defendants.

A recent example being furnished is the reportage following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. When the case was transferred to CBI, these channels rushed to suggest that the CBI would start making arrests. The plaintiffs point out nothing of that sort has yet happened. They added that a few of the channels were openly conducting and publishing parallel private `investigations` and effectively acting as "courts" to condemn Bollywood personalities as guilty based on what they claim was "evidence" found by them, thereby trying to make a mockery of the criminal justice system.

The plaintiffs stated that they do not seek a blanket gag order against media reportage of the investigation in the Sushant case but merely seek a perpetual and mandatory injunction against the defendants from carrying on with reportage that violates applicable laws. The suit has been filed by DSK Legal on behalf of the plaintiffs.

(With IANS inputs)