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

The Delhi High Court has sought a reply from the producer of the proposed film Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy in actor Salman Khan's new suit seeking a ban on it [Salman Khan v. Amit Jani & Ors].

Justice Jyoti Singh today directed the counsel appearing for the producer Amit Jani to file his response to Khan's suit within2 weeks.

The producer's counsel submitted that the film is not certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and is currently not a "release-able" form.

"I have serious objections with the suit. The movie is not a release-able form. It has to be sent to the censor board for certification. Even the trailer has not been released," he stated.

The matter will be heard next on September 30.

In the new suit, Khan has named Amit Jani (producer), Jani FireFox Films, Bharat Shrinate (director) and Akshay Pandey (casting director) as defendants. Khan is seeking an injunction order restraining the release, streaming and broadcasting of the film. He is seeking take down of the film’s teaser, an unconditional retraction and apology for the defamatory statements and a direction to destroy all posters, hoardings and promotional materials of the film. Further, he is seeking damages of over ₹2 crore from the film-makers.

The actor has alleged that he got to know of the proposed film Kala Hiran in April this year. He states that the film portrays him as having links to the underworld and that the film’s poster is defamatory, violating his personality rights.

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

The suit also cites media reports and a press conference by Jani, arguing that they leave little doubt that the film is based on the blackbuck hunting case. He further contended that the film infringes upon his right to a fair trial in the 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. Subsequently, a new poster released on June 8 shows a dead blackbuck with a person allegedly representing Khan. Thereafter, the film-makers released teaser and trailer of the film in which the protagonist allegedly is Khan's lookalike and exploits his protected personality traits. He states that the film-makers have publicly declared that the filming is complete and that it would be released in September.

On July 27, the Court granted an interim injunction directing take down of the second teaser.

A similar application was earlier filed before the High Court in Khan's personality rights suit. Now, he has filed a separate suit seeking an injunction order.

The petition has been filed by Advocates Chandrima Mitra, Parag Khandhar and Krishan Kumar.

Senior Advocate Ravi Prakash and Advocates Nizam Pasha, Parag Khandhar (Partner, DSK legal), Chandrima Mitra (Partner, DSK legal), Tapan Radkar, Krishan Kumar, Zara Dhanboora, Astu Khandelwal, Charu Sharma and Sidharth Kaushik appeared for Khan.

[Read live reporting]