A film poster. A turquoise bracelet. A legal notice that has reopened a 28-year-old wound. Salman Khan’s most notorious court case is now the subject of a Bollywood film, and he is doing everything he can to stop it.
The makers are not blinking.
Image Source: IMDb
A new Bollywood project announced in late May 2026 has quickly turned into one of the messiest film controversies of the year. The movie is called ‘Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy’, and it is directly inspired by one of Salman Khan’s most long-running legal battles: the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. Within days of the film’s poster dropping, Salman’s legal team fired off a formal notice to the makers. Here is everything that has happened so far.
‘Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy’ draws its inspiration from the 1998 Jodhpur blackbuck case involving Salman Khan. The producer confirmed that portions of the film are expected to be filmed across Moradabad, Sambhal, and other locations in Uttar Pradesh.
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The film’s director is Bharat S. Shrinate, and producer is Amit Jani. According to Jani, the film is not Salman Khan’s biopic. According to him, it is more about the Bishnoi community, their struggle, and their connection with wildlife.
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The poster, released on May 29, shows a man resembling Salman Khan holding a rifle while wearing a turquoise bracelet. That bracelet is widely recognised as one of Salman’s signature accessories. The makers announced the trailer launch for June 20.
But according to multiple reports, other Bollywood actors present during the original 1998 shooting of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ in Jodhpur, including Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, and Sonali Bendre, are also likely to be depicted.
Understanding why Salman Khan reacted this strongly requires knowing the original case.
In September and October of 1998, Salman Khan was in Jodhpur filming for Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’. During breaks, Salman Khan along with co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari allegedly went on series of night safaris. On the night of October 1 to 2, two blackbucks, an endangered species in India, were shot and killed in the Kankani village area near Jodhpur. Local villagers from the Bishnoi community heard gunfire, chased the vehicle, and identified Salman Khan as shooter.
A trial court eventually convicted Salman Khan and sentenced him to five years in jail for killing the two blackbucks, a protected species. Four other actors charged in the same case were acquitted. After spending two nights in Jodhpur jail, Khan got bail and appealed against the conviction in a higher court.
The case has dragged on for nearly 28 years. Salman Khan’s lawyers have noted that the blackbuck case is still pending before the Rajasthan High Court. That pending status is a key part of why his team has taken legal action against the film.
The people making ‘Kala Hiran’ are not new to controversy. The film is directed by Bharat S. Shrinate and produced by Amit Jani, whose earlier project ‘Udaipur Files’ was based on the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Kumar.
‘Udaipur Files’ faced a legal stay just a day before its release in July 2025, when the Delhi High Court paused it after a revision application was filed citing concerns about communal harmony. The producers then challenged that stay at the Supreme Court, eventually agreed to six cuts, and released the film on August 8, 2025. It performed very poorly at the box office.
Given that track record, Jani’s willingness to step into another high-profile legal battle with ‘Kala Hiran’ is not entirely surprising.
The notice came to the film’s casting director, Akshay Pandey. According to its contents, Salman Khan’s legal team described the proposed film as “defamatory in nature” and a “gross violation of personality rights.” The notice also stated that developing and releasing the film would amount to “interference with the administration of justice” and directly impact the actor’s fundamental right to a fair trial.
The lawyers also maintained that the actor has “neither authorised nor consented to the use of his name, persona, or the alleged incident associated with him in the proposed film.”
The notice demands an immediate halt to the film’s release and the removal of all promotional material. Salman’s team argues the film appears to draw inspiration from a still-pending case and could negatively impact his reputation.
Amit Jani did not stay quiet after receiving the notice. He went public with it almost immediately.
Jani shared the legal notice on Facebook and responded in Hindi, writing: “Salman Khan is threatening people related to the movie ‘Kala Hiran’ with a legal notice. The intent of this legal notice is just intimidation so that people surrender to glamour.” He quoted lines from the poet Rahat Indori: “Hai uski aadat dara raha hai” (It is his habit to threaten).
On X, the producer accused the actor of threatening him by sending the notice. He also wrote on Facebook: “The intent of these notices is to instill fear so that people yield to his influence. It is his tendency to intimidate. I, however, do not easily succumb to intimidation. He may think I’m finished. Let him know I’m very much here.”
Director Bharat S. Shrinate also reacted, saying he has a habit of legal pressure, pointing to what the team went through with ‘Udaipur Files’.
This case is drawing attention beyond just Salman Khan vs. one producer. It is reigniting debate about where artistic freedom ends and personal legal protection begins.
The dispute has brought attention to concept of personality rights and legal boundaries around using real-life events in cinema. Courts in India have begun recognising personality rights in recent years, particularly for public figures. The argument from Salman’s camp is that even a heavily fictionalised version of his case, featuring a character that visually mimics him, can damage his standing in an ongoing legal proceeding.
The makers, on their side, argue that a matter as significant as a 28-year-old public court case involving a major celebrity is fair game for cinema. The tension between these two positions has no clear legal resolution yet, and that grey zone is precisely what has made this story so widely discussed.
The teaser for ‘Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy’ was about to drop on June 20, 2026. Whether that timeline holds now depends on what legal steps follow the notice.
As of early June 2026, Salman Khan’s team has not publicly spoken beyond the notice itself. The makers have shown no sign of backing down. No court hearing has been announced yet, and the film’s official release date has not been set. The situation is likely to escalate as the June 20 teaser date approaches.
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