New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to actor Shah Rukh Khan, his production company Red Chillies Entertainment, and streaming platform Netflix in response to a defamation suit filed by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede. The case concerns alleged defamatory content in the documentary series “The Ba*ds of Bollywood.”
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued summons to Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited (owned by Gauri Khan), Netflix, X Corp (formerly Twitter), Google LLC, Meta Platforms, RPSG Lifestyle Media Private Limited, and other unidentified parties. The court directed all defendants to submit their replies within seven days.
The bench scheduled the next hearing for October 30 and, at this stage, chose not to pass any interim injunction order. However, it instructed the defendants to respond to Wankhede’s plea seeking the removal of the alleged defamatory content from various online platforms.
In his petition, Wankhede sought ₹2 crore in damages, which he has proposed to donate to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the treatment of cancer patients. He claimed the series portrays him in a “misleading and negative manner,” harming his professional reputation and public image.
According to the plea, the show aims to discredit anti-narcotics officials and “erode public trust in law enforcement institutions.” Wankhede alleged that the series was “deliberately conceptualized and executed” to defame him, particularly given that the case involving him and Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is still pending before the Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court in Mumbai.
The court’s notice marks the first legal development in Wankhede’s defamation claim against the makers and distributors of the controversial documentary.
