‘Actor's pic used without permission’: Bombay HC seeks reply from filmmakers

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the producers of Telugu movie V to file their affidavits in response to an application filed by citybased actor Sakshi Malik seeking costs to be imposed on them for using her photograph in the movie without prior permissionJustice Gautam Patel noted that while the said scene has now been deleted the approach of the films producers was casualThe entire approach of the producers is casual and cavalier in the extreme with no thoughts spared to the consequences on the persons Malik image whose photograph is used Justice Patel saidThe order came on a defamation suit filed by Malik against the illicit use of her photograph by Venkateshwara Creations Pvt Ltd and V Venkata Ramana Reddy in the Telugu film V released in September last year on OTT platform Amazon PrimeAs per the suit the scene in question showed Maliks photograph referring to her as a commercial sex workerMalik in the suit said her photograph was taken from her social media without prior permissionThe court on Tuesday directed Amazon Prime to take down telecast of the movie until its makers delete the sceneOn Thursday the defendants informed the court that the scene was deleted following which Justice Patel permitted Amazon Prime to rerelease the filmMaliks advocates Alankar Kirpekar and Saveena Bedi Sachar argued that the actor is perhaps the latest and not the last woman to be objectified and taken for granted and whose privacy is considered in a most misogynistic and patriarchal mannerThis has to stop and a signal needs to be sent that persons such as the defendants in this case should not be left with a mere slap on the wrist and deletion of the scene in question they told the courtThe advocates sought that the court impose a cost on the films producers which they could either be directed to deposit in court or pay to any charity or to MalikThe court while agreeing to this directed the producers to file their affidavit in response to Maliks application seeking cost to be imposedThe bench while directing the producers to file their affidavits noted that Amazon Prime which is also a defendant in the case need not file any affidavit at this stage as the court cannot hold it responsibleThe court posted the matter for further hearing on March 25The HC noted that Malik in her suit has not cast any aspersions on commercial sex workers but her only problem is the movies portrayal of commercial sex workers and how demeaning and degrading their producersrsquo perception isThis is really the cause of action Any artistic expression is always subject to the right to dignity right to privacy and the right to be not defamed A person has to be mindful and careful of these parameters Justice Patel saidThe producers told the HC that they had given the contract to a Hyderabadbased agency Capricorn Event Management to procure an image for the scene and they assumed that prior approval would have been taken from the woman whose photograph was to be usedThe court on Thursday said Malik was at liberty to take any action as per law against the agencyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever