Protection of personality rights of veteran Bollywood actors
Mumbai: Famous Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha has won an important legal victory in protecting his personality rights. The Bombay High Court has issued an interim order in his favor on 21 February 2026. The court clarified that his famous dialogue ‘Khamosh’ is exclusively linked to his identity and cannot be used without his permission. This dialogue was spoken in a unique style by Shatrughan Sinha in the 1975 film ‘Kalicharan’, which is still alive in the hearts of fans.
Shatrughan Sinha’s famous dialogue ‘Khamosh’ is immortal
Recently, Shatrughan Sinha had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court. He alleged that several websites, social media platforms and AI tools were making commercial use of his name, image, voice, body language and a particular phrase like ‘Khamosh’ without permission. Their image is being misused through fake products, deepfake videos and false endorsements.
In the petition, lawyer Hiren Kamod said that his personality and publicity rights are being violated by this. A single bench of Justice Sharmila Deshmukh heard the case and granted interim relief, saying, “There is no need to prove that the ‘Khamosh’ dialogue was spoken in the unique style of the plaintiff (Shatrughan Sinha) and it is completely related to his personality.”
The court also said that Shatrughan Sinha’s style of dialogue delivery is very special and the word ‘Khamosh’ is identified with him. In the order, the court directed all social media platforms, AI entities, websites and unknown persons not to use Shatrughan Sinha’s name, image, voice, body language or phrase like ‘Khamosh’ without permission. The court ordered to remove such content and not to do so in future.
Along with this, creating fake or misleading content has been banned. This is interim relief while the full hearing of the case proceeds. Shatrughan Sinha told in the petition that fake products are being sold in his name on social media and his voice is being used by AI. This decision is important for the personality rights of celebrities, as deepfakes and unauthorized use have become common in the digital age.
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