As many in the entertainment industry navigate this legal path, the spotlight shifts from film reels to digital reels. Bollywood fame today comes with new responsibilities and new vulnerabilities.
Amid deepfake disaster, Bollywood draws the legal sword
Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar recently has stepped into a legal spotlight, and this time not for a movie release or a public feud, but to protect something much more personal: his own identity.
Johar has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights. He highlighted what many in the entertainment industry have been quietly grappling with: unauthorised use of their names, images, and likenesses online.
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The court petition by Johar comes after he discovered that various social media pages and websites were using his name and pictures without permission. The misuse wasn’t limited to harmless memes.
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Even Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, one of Bollywood’s most iconic stars, found herself in a distressing situation. In July, AI-generated deepfake videos featuring her face on sexually explicit content appeared on YouTube. By August, an organisation had been created in her name, allegedly seeking her endorsement. Following the actor, her husband Abhishek Bachchan also reached the court to seek legal remedy to protect his personality rights.
In an age dominated by digital content and AI-generated visuals, celebrities now face threats that go far beyond traditional gossip columns.
One of the earliest high-profile cases from Bollywood was that of actor Anil Kapoor’s. In 2023, Kapoor had approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his name, image, likeness, voice, and more.
The court issued an interim order that restricted the use of the ‘Ram Lakhan’ actor’s persona without consent. The ruling included his famous “jhakaas” catchphrase, making it clear that every identifiable aspect of a celebrity’s personality could now receive legal protection.
In light of the event, Kapoor pointed out that with the rise of AI technology, misuse can happen at the click of a button. “Because of the way technology is evolving every day, which can completely be misused commercially, whether it’s my image, voice, morphing, GIFs, or deepfakes, I can straight away send a court order, and they have to pull it down,” he said.
Kapoor’s legal victory set a precedent that other celebrities have since followed, establishing that personality rights are not just theoretical. They are enforceable.
Deepfake content has been a major concern for Bollywood stars in recent years. Take Alia Bhatt, for instance. Several years ago, videos went viral showing her face digitally superimposed on another woman in a “get-ready-with-me” video.
Similarly, Rashmika Mandanna faced a shocking deepfake video, which she addressed openly on social media. “I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is extremely scary. Not only for me but for each one of us who is vulnerable to harm because of how technology is being misused,” she wrote.
Nora Fatehi also had to contend with viral deepfake videos last year. In one, a digital lookalike of the actor promoted an end-of-season sale online. Priyanka Chopra wasn’t spared either. One video purportedly showed her endorsing a brand, and in another, her voice was tweaked to discuss her annual income.
With the rise of AI tools capable of morphing faces, cloning voices, and creating digital avatars, celebrities are uniquely vulnerable. Beyond embarrassment, there is financial and reputational harm at stake.
Courts have now started recognising these concerns as legitimate legal issues. They frame them under the umbrella of “personality rights”.
Speaking in legal terms, personality rights protect a person’s identity. They cover everything from names and nicknames. Even images, voices, and other identifiable personal attributes come under this. These rights are an extension of the right to privacy and property.
The concept has been steadily gaining traction in India with many incidents like this coming to light. Do you remember the landmark case of Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP in 2024? Singer Arijit Singh had sued a company for using generative AI tools to imitate his voice. Using the technique called voice cloning, they had allegedly used them for a commercial content.
The verdict held some significance because it was one of the first Indian judgments directly addressing the misuse of AI in relation to personal identity, music, and intellectual property.
The trend is pretty clear. Bollywood stars are no longer waiting passively for social media platforms or rogue content creators to police themselves. With the legal system slowly catching up, personalities now have tools to push back against misuse. It can be deepfake videos, AI-generated audio, photos, or impersonation for commercial gain.
There is much more behind that glamour, social media buzz, and red carpet smiles. It’s the celebrities facing threats that most of the public cannot imagine.
And, what seems like harmless entertainment to us online, can spiral pretty quickly into a personal and legal crisis for the affected.
It is a wake-up call for fans and followers of these celebrities too. The next time a meme, GIF, or viral clip appears online, it may not be as innocent as it seems to us. And, you might want to think twice before falling for it.
As many in the entertainment industry navigate this legal path, the spotlight shifts from film reels to digital reels. Bollywood fame today comes with new responsibilities and new vulnerabilities.
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