SSR case: Bollywood unites against media houses for ‘unfair trial’

The entire Hindi film fraternity has reportedly stood up against two news channels for allegedly passing derogatory and defamatory statements against the Bollywood film industry. Some news channels had earlier branded the Bollywood film industry as “scum” and a “drug den.”

A group of actors, including Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan, and Anil Kapoor among others, filed a suit in the Delhi High Court against the two news channels.  The list of plaintiff also includes the names of The Film & Television Producers Guild Of India (PGI), The Cine & TV Artiste Association (CINTAA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC), and Screenwriters Association  (SWA).

[BREAKING] Suit has been filed before Delhi High Court by four Bollywood industry Assns & 34 leading Bollywood producers AGAINST

Republic TV
Arnab Goswami
Pradeep Bhandari
Times Now
Rahul Shivshankar
Navika Kumar @navikakumar @pradip103 @RShivshankar #ArnabGoswami pic.twitter.com/NXAP4w1Uvp

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) October 12, 2020

What are the charges filed against the news channels?

The said suit forbids the channels from conducting media trials of Bollywood celebrities.  It also asks the news channels to abide by the rules and regulations of the Programme Code and to remove all the defamatory and derogatory content reported by them against the famous Bollywood personalities.

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 @navikakumar @pradip103 @RShivshankar #ArnabGoswami

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) October 12, 2020

This follows the long and extensive coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. During the coverage of SSR’s death case, words like “scum,” “druggies,” “dirt,” “filth,” and phrases like “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”  were used against Bollywood film industry.

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 @navikakumar @pradip103 @RShivshankar #ArnabGoswami

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) October 12, 2020

Who are the Plaintiffs that filed the suit?

The list of plaintiffs who filed the suit against the news channels for making derogatory and defamatory statements against the film industry are:

1. The Film & Television Producers Guild of India
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 Films
8. Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network
9. Arbaaz Khan Productions
10. Ashutosh Gowarikar Productions
11. BSK Network and Entertainment
12. Cape of Good Films
13. Clean Slate Filmz
14. Dharma Productions
15. Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures
16. Excel Entertainment
17. Filmkraft Productions
18. Hope Production
19. Kabir Khan Films
20. Luv Films
21. MacGuffin Pictures
22. Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment
23. One India Stories
24. S. Entertainment
25. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures
26. Red Chillies Entertainment
27. Reel Life Productions
28. Reliance Big Entertainment
29. Rohit Shetty Picturez
30. Roy Kapur Films
31. Salman Khan Films
32. Sikhya Entertainment
33. Sohail Khan Productions
34. Tiger Baby Digital
35. Vinod Chopra Films
36. Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures
37. Yashraj Films

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