Ex-NCB Officer Sameer Wankhede Files Defamation Suit Against Netflix and SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment
Ex-NCB Officer Sameer Wankhede Files Defamation Suit Against Netflix and SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment
Ex-NCB officer Sameer Wankhede files defamation suit against Netflix & Red Chillies over Ba**ds of Bollywood, seeks ₹2 crore damages.
Sameer Wankhede, the former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director who was central in the 2021 cruise ship drug case involving Aryan Khan, has filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against the makers of the Netflix series The Ba**ds of Bollywood.
Wankhede’s petition names Red Chillies Entertainment, owned by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan, Netflix, and several other entities, alleging that the series portrays him in a “false, malicious, and defamatory” light. He claims the content maligns anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby undermining public confidence in such institutions.
Among the disputed scenes is one where a character utters the national slogan “Satyamev Jayate” and then makes an obscene gesture. Wankhede argues this violates the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. The complaint also seeks removal of the allegedly offending clip, a permanent injunction, a formal declaratory order, and ₹2 crore in damages with the condition that any compensation awarded be donated to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.
The controversy springs from the close resemblance many viewers saw between a character in the series and Wankhede, especially since he led the NCB’s 2021 raid in which Aryan Khan was arrested. Wankhede contends that the series was deliberately conceptualized with an intent to malign his reputation, particularly given that legal matters involving him and Aryan Khan are still pending in the Bombay High Court and NDPS Special Court in Mumbai.
The suit argues that the portrayal is prejudicial because it is presented when the real case is sub-judice, meaning it is under judicial consideration and should not be publicly dramatized in ways that could impact perceptions.
Social media users have pointed out a problem: the character in the show is unnamed, prompting debate over how Wankhede will prove it is meant to depict him. Some have questioned whether there is sufficient similarity to hold as evidence.
