Suniel Shetty moves Bombay HC against misuse of image and deepfake with grandchild

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty has moved the Bombay High Court to protect his personality rights, citing the unauthorised use of his image on social media for business purposes.

According to a Bar and Bench report, 

Shetty has remarked that numerous social media pages and websites use his picture to promote their businesses. This also includes a disturbing deepfake image of him with his grandchild.

Justice Arif Doctor reserved an order on Shetty's interim application for the removal of the infringing content. Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, who represents Shetty, claimed that even deepfake photos of him are available on the Internet. He further complained about the unauthorised commercial use of his photographs without any authorisation.

“Please see that there is a real estate agency. There is an astrology website, which puts his photographs. Then, there are those real estate agencies that are using his photographs as intervals,” the advocate said.

The court was also informed that gambling websites were using the actor's photograph despite his lack of association with them. “There is merchandise being sold, posters of his face, etc. There is a photograph of him with a grandchild, which is a deepfake. It's not a real photograph,” Saraf added.

Shetty has sought the removal of social media content and directions against different respondents, alleging infringement, passing off, and misuse in merchandising. His counsel explained that he was not seeking the blocking of entire websites, but just the removal of infringing content.

Recently, the Delhi High Court issued a series of rulings protecting Bollywood celebrities' personality rights from unauthorised commercial use. On September 9 and 10, Justice Tejas Karia awarded relief to actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan after they complained about the abuse of their images and voices in AI-generated content and merchandise.

A week later, Justice Manmeet PS Arora provided similar protection to filmmaker Karan Johar, prohibiting the unlawful exploitation of his persona through deepfakes, morphing, and other digital manipulation.

Meanwhile, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, and Jackie Shroff have previously received such protections.

On the professional front,Suniel Shetty last appeared in the historical action film Kesari Veer, directed by Prince Dhiman. The film was a box office disaster, earning significantly less than its production cost and failing to attract a large audience.

Before this, the actor was seen in Nadaaniyan

, a teen romantic comedy film directed by Shauna Gautam. It also starred Ibrahim Ali Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhry, Dia Mirza and Jugal Hansraj in key roles. Nadaaniyan was released on Netflix on March 7.

Next, the seasoned actor is set to play a pivotal role in the upcoming movie Welcome to the Jungle. The upcoming film is the latest instalment in the popular Welcome franchise, which has earlier featured memorable performances by Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar, and Anil Kapoor, among others.