A day after Bollywood producers and several industry bodies moved the Delhi high court against two news channels, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has termed the move “too late” and even called it childish. The Film & Television Producers Guild Of India (PGI), Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC), Screenwriters Association (SWA), and 34 production houses came together for the lawsuit seeking to restrain two television news channels from making or publishing alleged “irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks” against the film industry.
RGV tweeted, “Reaction of Bollywood Is too late and too thanda ..All top film people complaining to Delhi high court is amounting to a school kid telling the teacher ‘Teacher, Teacher , wo Arnab mujhe gaali de raha hai’.”
Reaction of Bollywood Is too late and too thanda ..All top film people complaining to Delhi high court is amounting to a school kid telling the teacher “ Teacher, Teacher , wo Arnab mujhe gaali de raha hai”
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) October 12, 2020
The petitioners sought directions against Republic TV, its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and consulting editor Pradeep Bhandari, Times Now, its editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar, and group editor Navika Kumar, as well as social media platforms.
“Bollywood is unique and stands on a different footing from any other industry inasmuch as it is an industry that is dependent almost solely on goodwill, appreciation and acceptance of its audience. The livelihood of persons associated with Bollywood is being severely impacted by the smear campaign being run by the defendants. This is in addition to the ongoing pandemic which has resulted in extreme revenues and work opportunity loss.
The privacy of the members of Bollywood is being invaded, and their reputations are being irreparably damaged by painting the entire Bollywood as criminals, seeped in drug culture, and making being part of Bollywood as synonymous with criminal acts in the public imagination,” the plea read.
The signatories for the lawsuit include The Film & Television Producers Guild Of India (PGI), The Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC), Screenwriters Association (SWA), Aamir Khan Productions, Ad-Labs Films, Ajay Devgn Films, Andolan Films, Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network, Arbaaz Khan Productions, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions, BSK Network and Entertainment, Cape of Good Films, Clean Slate Films, Dharma Productions, Emmay Entertainment & Motion Pictures, Excel Entertainment , Filmkraft Productions, Hope Production, Kabir Khan Films, Luv Films, Macguffin Pictures, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, One India Stories, R.S. Entertainment (Ramesh Sippy Entertainment),Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Red Chillies Entertainment, Reel Life Productions, Reliance Big Entertainment, Rohit Shetty Picturez, Roy Kapur Films, Salman Khan Films, Sikhya Entertainment, Sohail Khan Productions, Tiger Baby Digital, Vinod Chopra Films, Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures and Yashraj Films.
Source: Hindustan Times
