Four Bollywood associations and 34 leading production houses have filed a civil suit before Delhi High Court. The suit has been filed against Republic TV, Arnab Goswami and Pradeep Bhandari of Republic TV, the news channel Times Now, Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar of Times Now.
Over the last few months, Bollywood has become a target of constant ridicule with many defaming the film industry.
Terms like “Bollywood Mafia” and “Drug Gang” have been used for many actors and filmmakers. Thier personal lives have come under public security with media releasing the most private details.
Production houses of Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan among others have come together to file the suit. The Film &Television Producers Guild of India (PGI) and Cine & TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) have also extended the support.
The plaintiffs also demanded that the defendants abide by the provisions of the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994. They also prayed to withdraw, recall and take down all defamatory content published by them against Bollywood.
The above mentioned channels and journalist are accused of using derogatory terms for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum” and “druggies”.
Here’s a full list of plaintiffs:
- The Film &Television Producers Guild of India (PGI)
- The Cine & TV Artiste? Association (CINTAA)
- Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC)
- Screenwriters Association (SWA)
- Aamir Khan Productions
- Ad-Labs Films
- Ajay Devgn Fflims
- 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 (Ramesh Sippy Entertainment)
- Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures
- Red Chillies Entertainment
- Reel Life Productions
- Reliance Big Entertainment
- Rohit Shetty Picturez
- Roy Kapur Films
- Salman Khan Films
- Sikhya Entertainment
- Sohail Khan Productions
- Tiger Baby Digital
- Vinod Chopra Films
- Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures
- Yashraj Films
According to the plaintiffs, the said channels have continuously violated 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.
Meanwhile, Republic TV was recently accused of garnering fake TRPs. Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh had accused Republic TV and two other Marathi channels of manipulating TRPs.