SC dismisses plea seeking injunction against Bollywood movie Gangubai Kathiawadi

New Delhi [India], February 24 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking an injunction against the Bollywood movie Gangubai Kathiawadi.
A Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari dismissed the special leave petition filed by a man who claimed to be adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi and sought to restrain makers from printing, promoting, selling, assigning, etc. the novel namely "The Mafia Queens of Mumbai" or the Bollywood film namely "Gangubai Kathiawadi".
"SLP dismissed. Reasons to follow, " the Court said.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by a man, who claimed to be the adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi and sought to restrain makers from printing, promoting, selling, assigning, etc. the novel namely "The Mafia Queens of Mumbai" or the Bollywood film namely "Gangubai Kathiawadi".
The petitioner has approached Supreme Court against the order dated 30.07.2021 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, whereby the High Court refused to grant a temporary injunction restraining the Respondents from printing, promoting, selling. assigning, etc. the novel namely "The Mafia Queens of Mumbai or the film namely "Gangubai Kathiawadi".
The petitioner submitted that the impugned order passed by the High Court though is of interim nature but in view of the nature of the dispute and the specific finding recorded by the High Court in the impugned order, makes the entire pending appeal infructuous.
It is the submission of the Petitioner that in a case related to defamation, the balance of convenience is always in favor of the person defamed and the reputation of such defamed person cannot be compensated in terms of money.
Advocates Arun Kumar Sinha, Rakesh Singh, and Sumit Sinha appeared for the petitioner.
Senior Advocate C Aryama Sundaram, appearing for Bhansali Productions submitted the Court the film glorifies the lady.
"If your lordships access Wikipedia, please access. Everything about the lady is already there. What am I doing? I am just glorifying the lady, " he said.
The advocate further added that nothing prima facie has been shown. He also briefed the Court about there are many stories that dignify these ladies.
Bombay High Court has earlier dismissed two petitions against Alia Bhatt-starrer 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' and disposed off another petition against it.
The dismissed petitions include the one filed by Congress MLA Amin Patel. The High Court has disposed of the petition of Hiten Mehta.
The film directed by ace filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, landed in a legal soup after Congress MLA Amin Patel on Tuesday filed a petition in Bombay High Court to change the name of the film, alleging it misrepresents Kamathipura as a red-light area while showing the Kathiawadi community in poor light.
Meanwhile, actor Alia Bhatt in her latest conversation with ANI, opened up about how she deals with such controversies.
"Neither any controversy nor any comment bothers me. I don't think anything bothers me beyond a point. Of course, I feel like there's a certain novelty that just a part of a film holds...whether the film is a good film or a bad film ..that doesn't matter. The audience makes the final decision after watching the film... Anything that happens before or after can't really change the fate," Alia told ANI while promoting her movie in the national capital on Tuesday.
Helmed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' revolves around a maiden sold by a suitor into prostitution and how she becomes a prominent and celebrated figure in the underworld and Kamathipua red-light district.
The film is scheduled to hit the theatres on February 25. (ANI)