Bollywood filmmakers challenge Republic TV, Times Now

Top Bollywood filmmakers and industry unions have filed a lawsuit against two popular TV news channels, asking them to refrain from “irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood and its members,” according to The Associated Press.

The “defendants are conducting and publishing parallel private ‘investigations’ and effectively acting as ‘courts’ to condemn persons connected with Bollywood as guilty based on what they claim is ‘evidence’ found by them,” the plaintiffs said in a statement, referring to the two news channels.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, comes months after India’s freewheeling television news channels took on Bollywood, India’s Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, with a spree of allegations following the suspected suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June.

Experts say television news in India is facing a serious crisis, with debates among commentators becoming increasingly strident and shrill, said The Associated Press,

Abhinandan Sekhri, the co-founder of media critiquing website Newslaundry, said most of India’s TV channels had morphed into “reality shows.”

“There will be repercussions if you do demonstrably false reporting,” Sekhri said, according to The Associated Press.

“It’s about time advertisers took a stand and withdrew their brands from TV channels that thrive on false information and toxic content.”