Manoj Bajpayee AI media incident — Jan 2025

On January 27, 2025, actor Manoj Bajpayee filed a petition with the Delhi High Court seeking legal protection of his personality rights. The actor raised significant concerns regarding the unauthorized use of his image, voice, and other aspects of his identity for commercial purposes.

What happened

The legal petition, presented before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, highlights the misuse of Bajpayee’s likeness and the deployment of artificial intelligence to replicate his persona. Specifically, the actor alleged that H2PG Designs Private Limited used his photographs in a way that falsely implied he was endorsing their brand of suits. Furthermore, the petition addresses the use of AI technology by another defendant to reproduce his voice. Beyond these specific instances, Bajpayee is seeking broader protection against AI chatbots capable of utilizing identifiable elements of his personality.

During the initial hearing, the court examined the issue of jurisdiction, as Bajpayee is primarily based in Mumbai. Counsel for the actor, Senior Advocate Swathi Sukumar, established that the presence of certain defendants within Delhi provided the necessary grounds for the case to proceed. Justice Kaurav noted that the court has previously handled similar personality rights petitions for numerous public figures, including actors such as Tabu, Mohanlal, and R Madhavan, as well as cricketers like Yuvraj Singh. The court has directed Bajpayee’s counsel to compile relevant interim and final orders from these previous cases to assist in determining the next steps for his plea.