The Bombay High Court has directed streaming platform Amazon Prime Video to take down the Telugu movie "V" starring Nani. Model and actor Sakshi Malik filed a defamation suit against Venkateshwara Creations for allegedly using her photograph without permission in their movie. Malik's advocate Saveena Bedi said the scene showed Malik's photograph, referring to her as a commercial sex worker.
"Simply using another's image, and most especially a private image, without consent is prima facie impermissible, unlawful, and entirely illegal. In a given case, it may also be defamatory, depending on the type of use", the court said in its order. The order copy was made available on Wednesday according to Gadgets 360.
"The fact that the image has been illicitly used is bad enough. It only makes matters worse when used in a plainly derogatory and demeaning vein", Justice Patel said.
The court directed Amazon Prime Video to take down the movie within 24 hours until the said scene is deleted. "It is not acceptable for them (movie's makers) to merely pixelate or blur the images. The entire sequence, which has the image of the plaintiff (Malik), is to be removed immediately", Justice Patel said.
Bedi argued that Malik's photo was used illicitly by the defendant in a Telugu movie titled 'V' that was released on Amazon on September 5, 2020. As per Malik's suit, she had commissioned a photographer in 2017 for creating a portfolio.
"In August 2017, she (Malik) posted some photographs from the portfolio on her Instagram account. One of these photos was used in a scene of the Telugu movie where there is a reference to a commercial sex worker", Bedi said.
Talking about the movie "V", it is an action thriller directed by Mohana Krishna Indraganti and produced by Dil Raju under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations. The movie stars Nani, Sudheer Babu, Nivetha Thomas, and Aditi Rao Hydari in lead roles along with Vennela Kishore and Tanikella Bharani in supporting roles. Nani played the antagonist in the film for the first time.
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