From AI Clones to Fake Merch, Indian Celebrities Turn to Courts to Guard Their Identity

Aishwarya Rai recently filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to safeguard her personality rights, followed the next day by her husband, Abhishek Bachchan.

With AI’s rise, Indian celebrities are increasingly seeking to protect their personality rights—the legal control over their name, image, voice, signature, and other traits, tied to both publicity and privacy.

In her petition, Rai’s lawyer Sandeep Sethi pointed to websites falsely presenting themselves as official platforms while selling mugs, t-shirts, drinks, and other products carrying her name and image without consent.

Anil Kapoor (2023), Jackie Shroff (2024), and Arijit Singh (2024) also secured court orders protecting their personality rights from misuse of images, nicknames, and AI voice cloning.

Indian courts have acted before to protect these rights, from the Madras High Court blocking Main Hoon Rajinikanth in 2015 for exploiting the actor’s persona to the Delhi High Court in 2022 barring unauthorised use of Amitabh Bachchan’s name, voice, and image.

From deepfakes and fake endorsements to counterfeit merchandise, such violations risk eroding a celebrity’s reputation and dignity.

In India, personality rights remain a developing area of law, with courts relying on constitutional protections and IP principles to address misuse.