Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking protection against the misuse of his name and personality. The actor alleges that his slang term 'Bhidu' has been used by several entities for commercial gain.
On Tuesday, the actor moved Delhi HC seeking legal action restraining entities like social media channels, firms, AI programs and GIF models for illegally using his name, voice, personality & image without his authorization. The Delhi HC will be hearing the case on Wednesday, 15 May.
According to a Bar & Bench report, the actor has sought protection against his names "Jaggu Dada, Jackie Shroff, Jackie" including his slang "Bhidu" claiming that his attributes can not be used without his consent as it is part of his personality rights.
Pravin Anand, the advocate representing Shroff clarified in the court that they just want to prevent people from using his persona which can damage the reputation of the actor defaming him. He added that the actor doesn't have any intention of stopping parody or satire.
Anand further mentioned some incidents where the image of Shroff was used in offensive memes and his voice was dubbed in similar offensive videos. “All are using his name, and images and earning huge money. This is all defamatory stuff… there are distasteful dirty words in voice-over. There is nothing legitimate about any of this,” said Anand.
The actor requested that the Department of Technology and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) be instructed to remove all links and websites that illegally violate his personality rights.