Delhi High Court seeks response from director, producer of Kala Hiran in Salman Khan's plea to ban film

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notices to the director and producer of the movie Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy after actor Salman Khan filed a plea seeking a ban on it.

A vacation bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna passed the order and said that the case will be heard on June 19.

"This application has been filed for the impleadment of Amit Jani, Jani FireFox Films, Bharat Shrinate and Akshay Pandey. Let notice be issued. An application under Order 39, Rule 1 and 2 has also been filed for stay on release of the film Kala Hiran: Battle for Legacy. The trailer has been released today even though it was supposed to be released on 20 June. List on June 19," the Court said.

Khan has filed an application against the release of the film in his already pending suit for the protection of his personality rights. The Court had earlier passed an interim order, protecting his personality rights.

In the fresh application, he has named Amit Jani (producer), Jani FireFox Films, Bharat Shrinate (director), Akshay Pandey (casting director) and certain unnamed (Jon Doe) persons as defendants.

The actor has alleged that Kala Hiran portrays him as having links to the underworld and that the film’s poster is defamatory, violating his personality rights.

He further contended that the film infringes upon his right to a fair trial in the alleged blackbuck hunting case, as proceedings related to the matter remain pending before the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court.

According to Khan, the film’s poster, released on May 29, features a character bearing a close physical resemblance to him and wearing a distinctive bracelet associated with the actor.

The application also cites media reports and a press conference by Jani, arguing that they leave little doubt that the film is based on the sub judice blackbuck hunting incident.

The petition states that Khan initially sent a legal notice to the filmmakers. However, he alleges that Jani publicly tore up the notice during an interview available online and later posted on X that he was being threatened by Khan and the underworld.

Counsel appearing for Khan submitted before Court today,

"My personality rights, including my image, likeness and all other aspects of my personality, were protected by this Court. On May 29, a poster is released with a person bearing my likeness, he is wearing the bracelet that I wear. There are 4 FIRs. In 3, I have been acquitted, and in one the appeal is pending. Every day in the press, my name is there, defamatory statements are made. I am asking for an injunction on this film. This morning, they have released the trailer."

Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi with advocates Nizamuddin Pasha, Shreya Sethi, Krisna Gambhir, Sidharth Kaushik with DSK Legal Team of advocates Parag Khandhar, (Partner), Chandrima Mitra (Partner), Krishan Kumar, Tapan Radkar and Zara Dhanbhoora appeared for Salman Khan.