Legal clash between Sameer Wankhede and Red Chillies heats up
A fresh courtroom battle has erupted between IRS officer Sameer Wankhede and Shah Rukh Khan’s production house, Red Chillies Entertainment, over the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, directed by Aryan Khan. Wankhede has filed a Rs 2 crore defamation suit in the Delhi High Court, alleging the show presents a veiled depiction of him and harms his reputation — particularly in connection with the 2021 Cordelia Empress cruise drug case involving Aryan Khan.
Red Chillies fights injunction plea
Red Chillies opposed Wankhede’s demand for an interim injunction to stop the series from streaming. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the production house, argued the show is a work of fiction and satire inspired by generic “overzealous officers,” not a portrayal of the Cordelia incident.
Defence: fiction, satire and exaggeration
Kaul told the court that satire and fiction can co-exist with real events and that partial inspiration from real persons is not unlawful. He said the series covers about 20 different issues and is not a documentary on the Cordelia cruise. “Where is the ill-will or malice? This is about a success story in a Bollywood party,” Kaul said, stressing that hurt feelings alone don’t amount to malice.
He added that many scenes are deliberately exaggerated and argued the show does not mock official emblems or single out an individual unfairly. Kaul also noted that Wankhede often gives media interviews, suggesting a public official cannot be treated as “thin-skinned.”
What’s next
The court will next hear arguments on behalf of Netflix on November 27, 2025. Until then, the streaming status of The Ba***ds of Bollywood and the outcome of the defamation claim remain under judicial review.
Earlier proceedings had also flagged questions about perceived bias in the series, adding another layer to this closely watched dispute between a public servant and a high-profile film production house.
