Shilpa Shetty's Rs 25 crore case to Akshay Kumar's Rs 500 crore suit: When Bollywood celebs retorted with defamation cases

When it comes to messing with celebrities, people may want to put their money where their mouth is. While more often than not, Bollywood stars may choose to look the other way, there have been instances when they have clapped back at false reports and allegations made against them. From Shilpa Shetty slamming news portals with a Rs 25 crore libel case to Akshay Kumar suing a YouTuber with a Rs 500 crore lawsuit, here's a list of times when Bollywood stars fired back with defamation cases.

Shilpa Shetty filed a defamation suit in Bombay High Court against 29 media personnel and media houses, accusing them of "false reporting and maligning her image" after her businessman-husband Raj Kundra was arrested for the alleged creation and distribution of pornographic content. She also requested the Court to issue a mandatory order directing the defendants to delete all the defamatory articles and videos from their websites and social media platforms and even issue an unconditional apology. However, the court said that her plea calling for restraining media reportage will have a "chilling effect" on the freedom of press.

Not too many months ago, Akshay Kumar shocked fans when he came down heavily on a YouTuber from Bihar and slapped him with a defamation notice, seeking Rs 500 crore in damages. The person in question was raking in big views for his videos, making “baseless allegations” against Akshay during the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

Lyricist Javed Akhtar filed a criminal complaint against actor Kangana Ranaut in court for allegedly making 'defamatory and baseless' comments against him in one of her TV interviews. Akhtar sought action against Ranaut under the relevant provisions of the IPC for defamation and allegedly dragging his name in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case besides also alleging his involvement in her highly publicised battle with Hrithik Roshan.

Bollywood filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and brother Mukesh Bhatt filed a defamation suit in the Bombay High Court against aspiring actor Luvienna Lodh for making 'defamatory, slanderous, and false' allegations against them. The Bhatt brothers also sought Rs 1 crore in damages and an order restraining her from making any further such claims in the future.

Actress Richa Chadha slapped Payal Ghosh with a defamation suit after she wrongly dragged her name into her public spat with Anurag Kashyap. Chadha sought Rs 1.1 crore in damages from Ghosh and others, including a news channel and Kamaal R Khan over “defamatory statements'' against her. The actress took the legal route after Ghosh mentioned her name in her #MeToo allegations against Kashyap. However, the matter was settled after Ghosh issued a public apology.

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan who was accused in the blackbuck case, filed a defamation suit against a TV news channel and has slapped damages worth Rs 100 crore. According to reports, Salman filed the suit in Bombay High Court, claiming that a sting operation conducted by the channel in the 1998 poaching case was malicious and defamatory. He also put forth his demand that the channel refrains from releasing the sting operation.

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