On Thursday, the Delhi High Court refused to stay the release of the movie, 'Nyay: The Justice' which is supposedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The movie is scheduled to be released on Friday.
A bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed an application filed by Sushant's father, against the movie and other ventures using his son's name or likeness in the form of a biopic or story.
The court noted the right to privacy has also been invoked not just of the deceased but also of his family. "The submissions on this aspect are unspecific and vague. No definite instance has been presented by the plaintiff to show how this right is infringed upon and therefore, the plea is devoid of merit," said the court.
The court also found merit in the contention of one of the defendants that if the information of events that have occurred is already in the public domain, one cannot plead any violation of the right to privacy if a movie is inspired by such events.
The court noted the events that form the subject matter of the film are in the public sphere, and it does not find any justification to restrain the publication of work claiming to be fictional, which draws inspiration from such events.
"Since the defendants' films are neither portrayed as a biopic, nor a factual narration of what transpired in the life of SSR and are depicted to be completely fictional and inspired from certain events which have occurred in the past and have been widely discussed and are available in the public domain, the Court finds no reason to grant a restraining order," said the court.
(Inputs from IANS)
