Delhi Court Puts Interim Stay On Biopic Based On Chanda Kochhar’s Life After She Alleges Content To Be ‘Defamatory’

A Delhi court has granted an interim stay on the screening of a movie based on the life of former ICICI Bank managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar.

She had moved the court through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, seeking stay on the release of the movie alleging that its content was defamatory. The complainant said, the production house never sought her 'consent' to make the film.

In his order on Saturday (23 November), Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sandeep Garg said the defendants, which included producers and their associates, representatives and actors, could not use Chanda Kochhar's name directly or indirectly.

The movie producers are also restrained from screening the film online or offline.

The court will hear the matter again on 26 November.

The biopic on Chanda Kochhar, who has been under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) scanner over alleged involvement in the Rs 1,875-crore Videocon loan case, was screened at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

The film titled "Chanda" has actress Gurleen Chopra playing the lead. The 29-year-old actress recently took to Facebook to share a couple of posters of the film, which read, "Chanda: A signature that ruined a career".

The actress captioned the images: "My first biopic based on Chanda Kochhar...CEO of ICICI BANK."

Expressing her excitement about the IFFI screening, Gurleen said, "Our film, based on Chanda Kochhar's life, was screened at the Goa film festival to a full house. Reeta Singh, vice-president of the Mumbai BJP, had come as she was specifically asked to watch this movie by her office. She really appreciated the movie. My acting was praised by all."

The film, directed by Ajay Singh, has been produced by Manoj Nandwana and S Akhileswaran. It also stars Pushpendra Tiwari and Aditya Verma in key roles.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)