Securing Personality Rights Among Celebrities In India: Emerging Judicial Trends And The Expanding Contours Of The Right Of Publicity
- IJLLR Journal
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
Tarun Negi, Adv. Balasaheb Apte College of Law, Mumbai
ABSTRACT
In recent years, Indian jurisprudence has witnessed a remarkable evolution in recognizing and protecting the personality rights of celebrities. With the exponential rise of digital media, social networking platforms, and artificial intelligence-based content creation, the boundaries between personal identity and commercial exploitation have become increasingly blurred. The Indian courts, particularly the Delhi, Bombay, and Madras High Courts, have played a pivotal role in establishing a robust legal framework safeguarding the right of publicity and personality rights of public figures. Through landmark decisions in Rajinikanth vs Varsha Productions (2015), Anil Kapoor vs Simply Life India (2019), Amitabh Bachchan vs Ashok Kumar & Ors. (2022), Jackie Shroff vs Deepak Awor (2022), and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan vs Multiple Defendants (2025), the judiciary has reiterated that a celebrity’s persona encompassing their name, likeness, image, voice, and even distinctive style constitutes a proprietary right deserving legal protection. The Bombay High Court’s recent intervention in cases involving Asha Bhosle, Suniel Shetty, and Arijit Singh has further strengthened this jurisprudence by addressing contemporary threats such as AI-generated deepfakes and voice cloning. This article analyses these developments in the broader context of intellectual property and privacy law, emphasizing the need for a statutory recognition of personality rights in India.
