Trisha Ghosh, Pune
Rajinikanth’s latest film ‘Jailer’ has been facing controversies since its release on 10th August 2023 regarding the use of the jersey of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), a cricket team that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Tamil film revolves around a jailer named Muthuvel Pandian who, after finding out that a prisoner of his plans to escape prison by obtaining aid from a gang, decides to put a fierce end to the idea. The IPL team proceeded to file a suit against the filmmakers.
The complaint they held was that the film had used their team jersey in certain scenes in a derogatory way. In particular, there is a scene in the film wherein the character of a contract killer is seen making degrading and misogynistic remarks about women while wearing the jersey. Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited has contended that such a portrayal shows the team in a poor light, and hence, could be damaging to their brand name and their public image. Additionally, this can be viewed in an even more negative light considering that the film is a Rajinikanth starrer. The image of the jersey has also been used in the film without the team’s permission.
Justice Prathiba M. Singh from the Delhi High Court has recently ordered the filmmakers to release an altered version of their film on all television, satellite, and OTT platforms, which prevents the RCB jersey from being recognised. This would also involve changing other aspects of the jersey such as colour and any other brand elements that make it identifiable. These changes are to be incorporated by September 1 in the theater version of ‘Jailer’. The court has also ordered the refunding of the entirety of the court fees to the plaintiff.