The Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and former NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede has submitted a detailed reply in the Delhi High Court challenging Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.'s request for an injunction against the Aryan Khan-directed Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood.
Red Chillies responds to Wankhede's slander.
The production company owned by Shah Rukh Khan has called the defamation lawsuit "wholly misconceived, untenable in law, and devoid of merit."
According to the response, the web series is "a work of situational satire" and doesn't include any libellous content or name or portray Wankhede. Red Chillies' approved signature, Venkatesh Mysore, has swore to the document bolstering the response.

Since Wankhede and the primary defendants, including Netflix, are based in Mumbai, Red Chillies first contested the suit's maintainability, arguing that the Delhi High Court lacked geographical jurisdiction. Later changes to the plaint cannot give jurisdiction, it is argued, and the "jurisdictional defect at inception renders the proceedings a nullity."
The production company has also disputed Wankhede's assertion of a "unblemished record," citing the May 2023 CBI FIR filed against him for suspected corruption and extortion. The response contends that "the existence of the FIR and the necessity for interim protection undermine the Plaintiff's claim of an unblemished reputation."

It goes on to say that Wankhede cannot claim new harm to her reputation because she was already the target of "public ridicule and adverse commentary" before the series was released.