Bollywood takes Republic TV and Times Now to Court over irresponsible reporting

Top Bollywood filmmakers and producers on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court against “irresponsible reporting by certain media houses”, reported Bar and Bench. The suit filed by major 34 production houses takes strong exception to channels using expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “This is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.

The lawsuit has been filed against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami and Pradeep Bhandari of the channel; and Times Now and its prominent anchors Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar. The Suit is to to refrain them from making irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood as a whole and members of Bollywood, and to restrain them from conducting media trials of Bollywood personalities

The suit asks the news channel to ABIDE by the provisions of the Programme Code and to withdraw, RECALL and take down all the DEFAMATORY content published by them against Bollywood.

The actors who have set up film production companies in their names and who are among the plaintiffs include Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma. The well-known filmmakers who are guild members are Rohit Shetty, Kabir Khan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Rakesh Roshan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Ritesh Sidhwani, Sajid Nadiadwala, Luv Ranjan, Siddharth, Vishal Bhardwaj, Zoya Akhtar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Abhishek Chaubey.

WHO ARE THE PLAINTIFF?

1. The Film &Television Producers Guild of India (PGI)

2. The Cine & TV Artiste Association (CINTAA)

3. Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC)

4. Screenwriters Association (SWA)

5. Aamir Khan Productions

6. Ad-Labs Films

7. Ajay Devgn Flims

8. Andolan Films

9. Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network

10. Arbaaz Khan Productions

11. Ashutosh Gowariker Productions