Delhi High Court rejects Sameer Wankhede’s Defamation Suit Against Netflix Series ‘Ba***ds of Bollywood’

The Delhi High Court today rejected the defamation suit filed by Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and former NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede against Netflix and others over his alleged portrayal in the Netflix series “Ba***ds of Bollywood”, directed by Aryan Khan.

High Court has said that it lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the petitions and Wankhede is at liberty to file a plea in front of an appropriate court.

The Delhi High Court's single-judge Bench of Justice Purushaindra Kaurav reserved the order on December 2, 2025, after hearing brief submissions from all sides. The Court had framed two key issues:

1. Whether the suit is maintainable in Delhi.
2. Whether the impugned depiction, when viewed in its entirety and context, crosses the permissible limits of artistic expression and amounts to prima facie reputational harm.

Appearing for Wankhede, Senior Advocate J. Sai Deepak had argued that the suit is maintainable in Delhi as the officer’s relatives reside in the city and certain departmental proceedings against him are pending here.

He had further submitted that several news reports allegedly defaming Wankhede, including those published by The Indian Express and Hindustan Times, originate from Delhi and that the allegedly defamatory content is accessible nationwide, including to viewers in the capital. Highlighting prior history between the parties, Deepak had submitted,” There is a prior history. On the face of it, the director (Aryan Khan) of the series was the subject of arrest. The impugned content specifically targets me (Wankhede). Prima facie, there is a clear link”.

Opposing the plea, Netflix and Red Chillies Entertainment argued that the Delhi High Court lacks territorial jurisdiction, stating that the suit ought to have been filed in Mumbai. Netflix contended that the series is satirical, uses dark humour, and cannot be restrained in a defamation suit. The platform submitted that a brief satirical scene cannot amount to actionable defamation and that the threshold for defamation in such cases is high and cannot be established at the interim stage. Any determination of damage, it contended, can only be made after trial.

The suit named multiple defendants, including Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, Netflix, X Corp (formerly Twitter), Google LLC, Meta Platforms, RPG Lifestyle Media Private Limited, and a John Doe. On October 8, 2025 the Court had issued summons in Wankhede’s defamation suit against Netflix and others over his alleged defamatory portrayal in the series.

In this plea, Wankhede contended that the show was conceived with the intent of damaging his reputation. The series, which premiered on September 18 on Netflix, marked Aryan Khan’s directorial debut and was produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, the company owned by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan.

Wankhede had filed the suit against both Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix, demanding damages of Rs 2 crore. He had further requested that the compensation, if granted, be donated to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the benefit of cancer patients. The plea sought a permanent and mandatory injunction, along with a declaration and damages, against Red Chillies Entertainment, Netflix, and others associated with the show.

Wankhede had alleged that his portrayal in “Ba***ds of Bollywood” was “false, malicious, and defamatory,” arguing that the content produced by Red Chillies and broadcast on Netflix misrepresented him. According to the suit, “Ba***ds of Bollywood” depicted a distorted and negative image of anti-drug enforcement agencies, which, Wankhede claimed, risked eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions. His plea also raised objections to a particular scene in which a character was shown raising the middle finger immediately after uttering the national slogan “Satyamev Jayate.”

Wankhede asserted that this act constituted a serious violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, and was punishable under Indian law. He further claimed that the show had been deliberately designed and executed to damage his reputation in a colourable and prejudicial manner, particularly at a time when proceedings involving him and Aryan Khan remained pending before the Bombay High Court and the Special NDPS Court.

Case Title: Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede v. Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.

Bench: Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav. 

Judgment Date: 29 January 2026