Delhi HC Orders 'Kala Hiran' Film Teaser Takedown On Salman Khan's Personality Rights Plea

The Delhi High Court on Monday restrained the makers of the proposed film "Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy" from exhibiting, streaming, uploading or otherwise disseminating its teaser and related promotional content, while directing them to remove the identified online links within 24 hours in actor Salman Khan's personality rights suit.

The Court further ordered that if the uploaders fail to comply within the stipulated period, X, Meta and Google shall take down the specified URLs within 24 hours of being informed by the actor.

Justice Jyoti Singh passed the ad-interim order after holding that Khan had, prima facie, demonstrated that the teaser and accompanying social media campaign commercially exploited his personality rights and public persona without his consent or authorization and were causing irreparable harm to his goodwill and reputation.

The Court observed that personality rights have been repeatedly recognised by the Delhi High Court and constitute an intrinsic facet of Article 21 of the Constitution, encompassing the rights to privacy, dignity, and reputation.

It held that a Khan who has acquired ‘celebrity’ status has the fundamental right to protect his name, likeness, and all other attributes of his personality, and that no third party may use these attributes without his consent/authorization.

Emphasising the importance of protecting reputation, Justice Singh observed:

"Any content which causes harm and damage to Plaintiff's formidable and enviable goodwill and reputation must not continue on any platform as by the minute, it is causing irreparable harm. Loss of reputation is an irreversible loss and must be prevented at all costs."

The present application arose after the release of a fresh teaser of the proposed film on July 17, 2026. The Court noted that Khan had already secured an injunction in December 2025 restraining defendants from violating his personality rights or commercially exploiting attributes of his personality, including his name, voice, style, photographs and other identifying features.

According to Khan, the approximately two-minute teaser is set entirely inside a courtroom and dramatises the trial of a celebrated "superstar" accused of killing a blackbuck.

The application states that the accused is named "Ayan Khan", is referred to as "this Dabangg", and another dialogue attributes the alleged offence to "Sikandar's Garur", references which the actor contended unmistakably point towards him through the use of titles associated with his films.

The teaser also refers to Kankani village, where the alleged incident took place, depicts forensic evidence and witness testimonies, and purports to adjudicate contested evidence forming part of pending criminal proceedings.

Khan’s counsels argued that the promotional material had been deliberately designed to associate the proposed film with his identity and reputation in order to attract audiences and commercially exploit decades of goodwill built by him, without his consent.

It was further alleged that the producer had publicly described the proposed film as being based on "Salman Khan's blackbuck hunting case" and stated that it would depict the entire criminal proceedings from the trial court up to the Supreme Court.

His counsel also submitted that the teaser referred to incidents forming part of pending appeals before the Supreme Court and the Rajasthan High Court, thereby prejudicing his defence in those proceedings. It was argued that there could be no justification for releasing a feature film based on matters that continue to remain sub judice.

The Court found prima facie merit in these submissions.

Justice Singh observed that the teaser, together with accompanying social media posts, formed part of a coordinated promotional campaign intended to commercially exploit Khan's personality rights and public persona without authorisation, generate commercial interest in the proposed film and attract viewers.

The Court further noted that the teaser referred to incidents and characters involved in ongoing criminal appeals, touched upon contested witness testimony and even insinuated witness intimidation and influence over investigators and medical experts, despite claiming to be based on court records.

The Court also took note of comments posted beneath the teaser on YouTube referring to Salman Khan as a "blackbuck hunter" and "footpath killer", as well as social media posts describing him as a criminal, alleging enmity with the Bishnoi community and even linking him to the underworld and international terrorist organisations.

Justice Singh observed that the use of social media to disseminate content that violates personality rights or harms an individual's reputation aggravated the injury due to the "speed, reach and permanence" of digital publications, making the damage immediate and irreparable.

“Right to personality has been recognised by Courts as an intrinsic facet of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, encompassing right to privacy, dignity and reputation. Plaintiff has the right to determine the manner in which his persona is commercially exploited and proposed Defendants cannot exploit Plaintiff’s name, mannerisms and other distinctive attributes for commercial gains, without authority and/or publish and disseminate content which injures the reputation of the Plaintiff in public” the bench remarked.

Holding that the balance of convenience lay in Khan's favour and that denial of interim protection would result in irreparable injury, the Court restrained the proposed defendants from exhibiting, streaming, broadcasting, uploading, hosting, sharing or publicising the impugned teaser and accompanying posts or videos through any medium, including social media platforms, video-sharing platforms, websites, OTT platforms, television and print media, until the next date of hearing.

The Court also directed the proposed defendants to remove all URLs under their control, as identified in Annexure A, within 24 hours.

It further directed X (formerly Twitter), Meta Platforms and Google LLC to disable access to the identified links if the uploaders fail to take them down within the time granted, upon being informed by the plaintiff.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 30.

Case title ~ Salman Khan v ASHOK KUMAR/JOHN DOE & ORS