Shah Bano's family sues makers of Emraan Hashmi and Yami Gautam starrer Haq

Bollywood has once again done what Bollywood does best — taken a chapter out of India’s history, added gloss and a dramatic courtroom close-up. Only this time, the ghosts of the real story have shown up at the studio gates of Suparn Verma's Haq.

Emraan Hashmi and Yami Gautam’s Haq lands in legal trouble before release

Yami Gautam and Emraan Hashmi’s upcoming courtroom drama Haq is caught in a legal web even before its release. Shah Bano’s family has filed a plea in the Indore High Court, saying the film borrows from their matriarch’s life without consent and paints the faith she lived by in a not-so-flattering hue. The family calls it “distorted,”  but the makers call it “fiction inspired by truth.” And between those two phrases lies the mess Bollywood thrives on.

Director Suparn Verma insists Haq isn’t a biopic but a meditation on faith, gender, and justice. Translation: We changed enough names to survive a lawsuit. Emraan, forever the smooth talker, calls himself a “liberal Muslim” who found nothing offensive in the script. Yami, who’s been on a good run with sharp political dramas, is understandably staying out of the line of fire — she’s got an image to protect, and this is a dangerous place for nuance.

Every few years, a film reminds India that real stories come with real people and real lawsuits. From Bandit Queen to The Kashmir Files, the moral seems to be: tell the truth, but only the parts no one can sue you for.

Yet here’s the irony: the very plea to stop Haq has done what no marketing budget could. Suddenly everyone wants to see what’s so offensive. For a film about justice, it’s getting exactly the kind of publicity that can’t be bought but only litigated.

The question is, will Haq make its November 7 release, or will the gavel fall before the first show? Either way, Bollywood’s favourite genre “inspired by true events and public outrage”  isn’t going out of style anytime soon.

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