•  •  Dark Mode

Your Interests & Preferences

I am a...

law firm lawyer
in-house company lawyer
litigation lawyer
law student
aspiring student
other

Website Look & Feel

 •  •  Dark Mode
Blog Layout

Save preferences

Kochhar wins interim climb-down (but no apology) from Jolly LLB 2 over ‘lower strata’ Bata fisticuffs • Trial over damages remains [READ ORDER]

Film makers remove Bata video without prejudice, but the case may yet go to trial over damages...

Kochhar & Co has forced the makers of the Jolly LLB 2 to partially back down over its allegedly disparaging use of Bata in a trailer and scene, which we had first reported on 22 December 2016.

A courtroom brawl scene in the trailer saw one lawyer shouting at another “Varna Kya….BATA ka joota pehan kar, tuchhi si terricot ki shirt pehan kar, saala humse zabaan lada rahe hain”, which was subtitled with “who are you to argue with me in your cheap shoes and shabby clothes”.

Facing damages and interim relief over the trailer, which had been viewed 18 million times according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers Kochhar partner Neeraj Grover and senior counsel Amit Sibal, counsel for producers Subhash Kapoor, Fox Star Studios and others, managing partner of Saikrishna & Associates, Saikrishna Rajagopal, with Siddharth Chopra, Munish Mehra, S Mandal and S Narang, apparently did not feel the inclusion of Bata in the trailer was strategically worth fighting over for now.

According to the order:

The original trailer has now been removed from YouTube, with a new trailer without any Bata references having been uploaded.

However, the Jolly LLB 2 makers were not apparently ready to give the public apology claimed by Bata:

That leaves the interim and permanent injunction claims disposed of by the court without prejudice against the Jolly LLB makers.

But the case may end up going on trial over the damages claimed by Bata for the harm it alleged it has already suffered.

According to Mid-Day, Grover had said that the footwear maker was claiming Rs 3 crores of damages.

The Bata legal team also included Mehak Nakra and Aditya Singh.

We have reached out to Rajagopal for comment.

Bollywood Hungama had reported over the weekend that the film was passed without any cuts of the censor board under a UA certificate, and “a source close to the development” said: “The film that was shown to censor board had no controversial statements on the legal system. Even the reference to the show company Bata was removed before the film was brought to the censor board. The version of film shown to the censor board had nothing even remotely controversial about it.”

Delhi HC Order in Bata vs Jolly LLB

Click to show 1 comment
at your own risk
(alt+c)
By reading the comments you agree that they are the (often anonymous) personal views and opinions of readers, which may be biased and unreliable, and for which Legally India therefore has no liability. If you believe a comment is inappropriate, please click 'Report to LI' below the comment and we will review it as soon as practicable.