New Delhi:The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of the movie, 'Nyay: The Justice', which is purportedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The movie is scheduled to be released on Friday. Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed an application by Rajput's father Krishna Kishore Singh, seeking to restrain anyone from using his son's name or likeness in movies.
The court, however, directed the producers to maintain accounts of the film and listed the suit for completion of pleading before the joint registrar. The detailed order is awaited. According to Singh's plea, some of the upcoming or proposed movie projects based on his son's life are -- 'Nyay: The Justice', 'Suicide or Murder: A star was lost', 'Shashank' and an unnamed crowd-funded film.
Rajput's father, represented through senior advocate Vikas Singh and lawyer Varun Singh, has contended that the filmmakers are taking advantage of the situation for commercial gains and therefore, the right to freedom of speech and expression would not apply to them. 'Plaintiff (Singh) has apprehension that various plays, movies, web-series, books, interviews or other material may be published which would harm the reputation of the son of the plaintiff and his family,' claimed the suit, seeking damages of over Rs 2 crore from the filmmakers for 'loss of reputation, mental trauma and harassment' to Rajput's family.
Opposing the plea, senior advocate Chander Lall, appearing for the director of ‘Nyay’, has said the movie's release has been widely publicised and therefore, he would not be able to give any assurance with regard to holding it back. He said Rajput's caricature, name or likeness has not been used in the film.
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