The Bombay High Court stays defamation proceedings brought by a lower court against actor Alia Bhat and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in connection with the film Gangubai Kathiawadi.
On a defamation case filed by one Babuji Shah, who claimed to be the adoptive son of Gangubai, on whom the film is based, a metropolitan magistrate issued summons against Bhatt, Bhansali, and his production company Bhansali Productions Private Limited in March this year.
According to the reports, Justice SK Shinde stated on December 22, 2021, that the complaint did not disclose elements of defamation under section 499(1) of the IPC while accepting the plea filed by Alia, Bhansali, and others under section 482 of the CrPC.
Alia Bhatt plays Gangubai, one of the most powerful, loved, and revered madams in Kamathipura, Mumbai's red-light district, in the 1960s. Shah claimed that the film was inspired by the novel "The Mafia Queens of Mumbai."
Some parts of the work, according to Shah, were defamatory, tainted Gangubai’s reputation, and violated her right to privacy. Shah had petitioned the High Court for a stay on the film's distribution as well as an injunction prohibiting the novel's writers/publishers from creating any third-party rights or publishing any other tale about her life.
The film was supposed to be released in July of this year, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Gangubai Kathiawadi will now release February 18, 2022.
source https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/bombay-high-court-stays-defamation-proceedings-alia-bhatt-sanjay-leela-bhansali-connection-gangubai-kathiawadi/
