The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of the movie, 'Nyay: The Justice', which is purportedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed an application by Sushant Singh Rajput's father Krishna Kishore Singh, seeking to restrain anyone from using his son's name or likeness in movies.
Rajput’s father Krishna Kishore Singh filed the plea in April after learning about several films which were announced on his son’s life.
In April, the Delhi High Court had asked the producers of various movies - proposed and being filmed at the time - to respond to Sushant Rajput's father's plea; he had sought to restrain anyone from using his son's name or likeness on the silver screen.
Some of the upcoming or proposed movie projects, based on Rajput's life, mentioned in the plea, are - 'Nyay: The Justice', 'Suicide or Murder: A star was lost', 'Shashank' and an unnamed crowd-funded film.
The petition, filed through advocates Akshay Dev, Varun singh, Abhijeet Pandey and Samruddhi Bendbhar, said 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 the petition which has sought damages of over Rs 2 crores from the filmmakers for "loss of reputation, mental trauma and harassment" to Rajput's family.
It has also claimed that in case a "movie, web-series, book or any other content of similar nature is allowed to be published or broadcasted, it would affect the right of the victim and deceased for a free and fair trial as it may cause prejudice to them".
The petition has also contended that Rajput 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".
"The said right would be available to the plaintiff after his son's death as he is the only legal heir of Sushant Singh Rajput," the petition states.
(With inputs from PTI)
