Sameer Wankhede has approached the Delhi High Court alleging that the series is defamatory.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (December 02, 2025) reserved its order on a plea by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede, who has sought an interim restraining order against the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood’. Mr. Wankhede has alleged that the series is defamatory and has urged the court to direct its removal.
Justice Purushaindra Kaurav, after hearing all the parties in the matter, framed two questions to be decided at this stage and reserved the order on the interim plea.
The two questions framed by the court are – whether the suit is maintainable in Delhi and whether the impugned depiction, when viewed as a whole in the context, prima facie crosses the threshold and turns from protected artistic expression into actionable harm to Mr Wankhede’s reputation.
Mr. Wankhede’s counsel submitted that the suit is maintainable in Delhi as his relatives who have viewed the show reside here, departmental proceedings against him are pending here and the media houses which published the articles against him are also based in the city.
Red Chillies Entertainment and OTT Platform Netflix, however, opposed the plea saying it lacked territorial jurisdiction and the suit should have been filed in Mumbai instead of Delhi.
‘Oversensitive’
Netflix contended that the show exposes Bollywood culture, satire and dark comedy. It said the officer should not be oversensitive about a one-and-a-half-minute satire scene when he himself admits it is satire.
In its reply to Mr. Wankhede’s interim application, Red Chillies said the series was a “satire” and such depiction is permitted in law as a legitimate form of artistic expression and social commentary.
Mr. Wankhede, in his rejoinder to Red Chillies, said the “defamatory content” was created to settle personal scores with him and avenge the arrest of Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in a 2021 drugs case.
Published – December 02, 2025 08:57 pm IST
