Trinamool Congress MP and Actor Shatrughan Sinha has approached the Bombay High Court for protection of his fame and identity. His suit claims that he has been the victim of extensive online violations of his name, voice, likeness, and his famous phrase ‘Khamosh’ (from the 1976 movie Kalicharan). The suit was filed on behalf of the actor by his son Luv Sinha. He requested for or a payment of Rs.20 crore for damages, or alternatively the profits derived from the unauthorized use of Shatrughan Sinha’s name.
The complaint is against a number of unidentified parties, global platforms, and intermediaries, including Meta, X, Google, various e-commerce sites and blogs. The Kala Patthar actor is asking for an order that would permanently prohibit the defendants from directly or indirectly using his name, voice, mannerisms, signature catch-phrase ‘Khamosh’, and general persona in order to commercially exploit his image.
The plea stated that the accused modified videos of his performances to produce graphic type images. According to the plea, the users have also handed these GIFs to others, without notice or permission from Shatrughan Sinha. The plea also stated that the accused are distorting/mutilating/modifying the video recordings of his films to create and communicate such GIFs.
Shatrughan Sinha has claimed moral rights to the performances he has provided. In his opinion, the actor has the right to stop others from distorting or altering his work to the point where it damages his good reputation. Justice Sharmila Deshmukh heard the case on Monday, and she reserved judgment on Shatrughan Sinha's interim request for a restraining order against 24 defendants.
As part of the interim application, Shatrughan Sinha asked the court to prohibit the misuse of his name for commercial or individual financial benefit without first obtaining permission from him. A similar request has been raised previously by Jackie Shroff, who filed a lawsuit related to his trademark for the word ‘Bhidu.’
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