In a major move against the unchecked exploitation of celebrity identity in the digital age, Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan has approached the Delhi High Court seeking an injunction to protect his personality and publicity rights. The suit aims to prevent the unauthorised commercial use of his name, image, likeness, and voice amid the rising threat posed by generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deepfakes.
Roshan joins an elite and growing list of Indian public figures, including Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan, singer Kumar Sanu, and even the late industrialist Ratan Tata, who have turned to the judiciary to assert control over their digital personas. This surge of legal action underscores the urgent need for robust legal safeguards against online misuse.
Hrithik Roshan’s petition names not only specific entities but also “John Does” (unnamed individuals), acknowledging the pervasive and often anonymous nature of online infringement. The actor’s legal team argues that the unauthorised use of his personality attributes for commercial gain is leading to deception and confusion among the public, besides causing direct financial and reputational harm.
The Delhi High Court has become the central battleground for these cases. Recently, the court, while granting interim relief to other celebrities, flagged the severe risks of generative AI. It noted that once manipulated or misleading content—like AI-generated explicit material or fake endorsements—is uploaded, AI tools can rapidly replicate and amplify it, causing long-term damage that is almost impossible to undo.
The stars are using this legal route to establish that their persona—developed through years of work and investment—is a valuable intellectual property that they alone control. This legal precedent, established under common law principles and the Right to Privacy (Article 21), is now serving as the primary shield until India introduces a dedicated statute for personality rights.
The current wave of lawsuits has been triggered by the proliferation of sophisticated technologies like deepfakes and AI voice cloning, which blur the line between real and fabricated content. Celebrities are fighting against everything from fake merchandise and unauthorized biographies to AI-cloned voices used in advertisements and highly offensive, manipulated video content.
The decision by a star of Hrithik Roshan’s stature to move the court sends a clear message: public figures are actively using the judiciary to draw a firm line between authorized promotions and illicit, AI-driven exploitation. Experts believe this trend will only accelerate, forcing social media platforms and tech companies to implement stricter content moderation and AI-training policies.
Latest appearance of Hrithik Roshan in a feature film was the high-octane action thriller, War 2, the sixth instalment in the YRF Spy Universe. Roshan reprised his role as the formidable RAW agent Major Kabir Dhaliwal in the sequel.
