Nearly a year after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death under mysterious circumstances, the morally bankrupt institution of Bollywood has started milking his death for profit. Reportedly, the Delhi High Court, on Thursday, dismissed an application filed by Sushant Singh Rajput’s father Krishna Kishore Singh seeking to restrain the release of Nyay: The Justice, a film based on the life of the actor and several other movies that are purportedly in the works.
In the civil suit, Sushant’s father argued that any publication, production, or depiction of Sushant’s private life is a “blatant and wilful” breach of the fundamental right to privacy and it cannot be undertaken without the prior approval of his legal heir.
“The defendants (filmmakers), taking advantage of this situation, have been trying to encash this opportunity for ulterior motives. Thus, Plaintiff (Singh) has apprehension that various plays, movies, web-series, books, interviews or other material may be published which would harm the reputation of the son of the plaintiff and his family,” claimed KK Singh in the suit whilst also seeking damages of over Rs 2 crore from the filmmakers for causing “loss of reputation, mental trauma and harassment”.
The suit has also contended that Sushant being a well-known celebrity, “any misuse of his name/ image/ caricature/ style of delivering dialogues also amounts to infringement of the personality right vested with the plaintiff besides amounting to acts of passing off”.
Meanwhile, the makers of the movie Nyay: The Justice, told the HC that the film does not depict the late actor’s caricature, name or likeness as it is not a biopic on him. The film was scheduled to release on June 11.
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“The Plaintiff has an adequate remedy of being compensated by award of damages, if the Plaintiff proves in trial that the celebrity/publicity rights were inheritable and inured to him exclusively. To ensure that, the Defendants are directed to render complete and true accounts of the revenue earned from the films by way of sale/licensing of all rights relating to the films”, the Court said, according to a report by Live Law.
The CBI has been investigating the case since last year but the progress so far has been minimal. The late actor, aged 34 was found dead on June 14, 2020, at his Bandra, Mumbai home. His father had lodged a complaint with the Patna police on July 25, naming Rhea Chakraborty, Samuel Miranda, and others as the prime suspects in his son’s death. While AIIMS doctors have ruled out any foul play in the death of Sushant, the CBI has been said to be using ‘latest scientific techniques’ to bring the case to an end.