Aryan Khan says he wanted to be ‘self-deprecating, not disrespectful’ amid Sameer Wankhede defamation suit

Aryan Khan's The Ba***ds of Bollywood might have been loved by many, but IRS officer Sameer Wankhede filed a defamation suit after its release.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, recently made his directorial debut with the Netflix web series, The Ba***ds of Bollywood. Amid controversy surrounding a defamation suit filed by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede against him, Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix, in an interview with Variety, Aryan stated that he wanted to be ‘self-deprecating’ with the series, not ‘disrespectful’.

Aryan Khan during the preview launch of his upcoming directorial debut on Netflix, The Ba***ds of Bollywood, in August.(PTI)

Aryan Khan on the humour in The Ba***ds of Bollywood

Aryan stated in the interview that the series’s team set parameters regarding creative boundaries. “We wanted to be self-deprecating, but not disrespectful anywhere. So I think we maintained that line correctly, and the guardrails were self-imposed, mostly because, making something about the industry and being a part of the industry, there has to be — there is a lot of respect,” he said.

He also added, “People being able to take jokes on themselves, I feel, is the first and most important thing about comedy. Take a joke on yourself and then spread the love. People were extremely sporting, and we also made an effort not to push boundaries in terms of being disrespectful, only being self-deprecating.”

Aryan also stated in the interview that the series had scenes inspired by ‘certain realities’ and that they’re exaggerated because it’s ‘not a documentary’. The Ba***ds of Bollywood starred Lakshya, Bobby Deol, Raghav Juyal, Anya Singh, Manoj Pahwa, Manish Chaudhari, Sahher Bambba, Gautami Kapoor, Rajat Bedi, and others, with cameos by Shah Rukh, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, SS Rajamouli, Disha Patani, and more.

Sameer Wankhede’s defamation suit

While Aryan’s web series kept people guessing who he was referencing in Bollywood, the biggest fallout seems to have been Sameer’s defamation suit filed in the Delhi High Court, alleging that the series had maligned his reputation. He is seeking ₹2 crore in damages, which he wants donated to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for cancer patients. On 8 October, the HC issued a summons to Red Chillies Entertainment, owned by Shah Rukh, and Netflix, as well as X Corp (formerly Twitter), Google LLC, Meta Platforms, RPSG Lifestyle Media Private Limited, and John Doe, with a hearing in the case set for 30 October.

For the unversed, Sameer was the officer in the Cordelia case in 2022, where a cruise ship was raided, and Aryan was taken into custody for alleged possession of drugs. The case against the debutant director was dropped later, after he spent 25 days in jail before being granted bail. Sameer was later removed from the case after being accused of blackmail. In May 2023, the Bombay High Court admitted his petition seeking to quash a CBI FIR alleging bribery.