It has finally happened. Bollywood has come together to take on two of the country's biggest news channels for their alleged derogatory and defamatory comments about the industry.
WHY IS IT A BIG DEAL?
In a major development, 4 leading associations from Bollywood and 34 of the Hindi film industry's biggest producers have filed a civil suit in the Delhi High Court. This lawsuit has been filed mainly against two news channels, Republic and Times Now, and four people who work there - Arnab Goswami, Pradeep Bhandari, Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar.
WHO FILED THE CIVIL SUIT?
This is an unprecedented move in which some of the biggest names in Bollywood, including Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Zoya Akhtar, have come together for a legal battle.
WHAT DOES THE LAWSUIT SAY?
The petition states that these channels should:
Refrain from making or publishing irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood and its members.
Stop conducting media trials and stop interfering with the right to privacy of people associated with the industry.
Withdraw, recall and take down all defamatory content that has been published by them against Bollywood.
OBJECTION TO WORDS LIKE 'DIRT', 'SCUM', 'DRUGGIES'
The film industry has particularly taken offence to the alleged use of derogatory terms such as 'DIRT', 'FILTH', 'SCUM' and 'DRUGGIES' for Bollywood. These news platforms have also allegedly used expressions such as "THIS IS THE DIRTIEST INDUSTRY IN THE COUNTRY" and "COCAINE and LSD DRENCHED BOLLYWOOD" in their broadcasts.
The suit claims that the privacy of the members of the industry is being invaded and their reputation is being irreparably damaged by the alleged smear campaign run by these news channels.
'MOCKERY OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM'
As an example of the unsubstantiated and incorrect news being relayed by these channels, the suit mentions how, even after the Sushant Singh Rajput case was transferred to the CBI, the channels indulged in putting out reports suggesting that arrests would be made. However, nothing of that sort has happened. The film producers who have come together against Times Now and Republic also said that these channels have made a "mockery out of the criminal justice system".
It's left to see how Times Now and Republic react to this civil suit.
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