The Supreme Court on February 24 dismissed a plea seeking to block the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi for allegedly being defamatory. A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari refused to give credence to the allegation levelled against the filmmaker, writers and actors of the film and said that the petitioner had failed to make a strong prima facie case for it to intervene. The petition was filed by Babuji Rawji Shah who claimed to be the adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi.
In his appeal, Shah claimed that the film and the book, on which it is based, tarnished his image and the images of his mother and other family members. But the advocates appearing for the filmmaker said that the film was not defamatory but it rather glorified the lead character.
The apex court upheld the Bombay high court ruling that Shah could not prove that he was Gangubai’s adopted son. The high court had stayed proceedings in the defamation suit filed against the producers and Alia Bhatt.
