'Satire Not Illegal', 'Thin Skinned Officer': SRK Vs Wankhede Court Showdown

Red Chillies Entertainment fired back in the Delhi High Court on Wednesday against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede's defamation lawsuit, asserting that Aryan Khan's directorial debut Netflix series 'The Ba***ds of Bollywood' is a fictional satire, emphatically not a dramatized version of the infamous 2021 Cordelia cruise drug case. During heated arguments before Justice Prathiba M Singh, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Red Chillies, slammed Wankhede's claims as "wholly misconceived and legally untenable," emphasizing that the show neither names nor directly depicts the IRS officer, but rather skewers the industry's excesses through archetypal characters.

Wankhede, who rocketed to notoriety for spearheading the probe, now alleges a specific episode features a "corrupt cop" character—a stern, bearded officer in a white kurta who raids a yacht party and arrests a young Bollywood scion, that is a thinly veiled caricature of him, complete with allusions to bribe demands and media leaks.

Red Chillies' affidavit, filed in response to Wankhede's September 25 suit seeking ₹2 crore in damages (pledged for donation to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital), categorically denies any malice or factual basis, labeling the series a "work of situational satire" that lampoons nepotism, substance abuse, and power plays in tinsel town without targeting individuals.

"This is not the Cordelia cruise story; it's a fictional narrative inspired by broader industry tropes, much like R.K. Laxman's cartoons critiqued society without personal vendettas," Sibal argued, countering Wankhede's counsel's insistence on "evident mockery" that erodes faith in anti-drug agencies and violates the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. The production house further contends that entertaining such pleas could unleash a flood of lawsuits from anyone spotting resemblances in fiction, stifling creative expression