Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede has once again found himself in the thick of a storm, but this time he is not the investigator — he is the petitioner. Wankhede has filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Aryan Khan’s directorial debut on Netflix, the provocatively titled “The Ba*ds of Bollywood.”**

In his plea, Wankhede has demanded ₹2 crore in damages from Red Chillies Entertainment — the production house owned by Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan — along with Netflix and others associated with the series. He has made it clear that this is not about personal enrichment, since he has requested that any damages awarded should be donated to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the treatment of cancer patients.

At the core of his petition lies a sharp accusation — that the web series portrays him in a “false, malicious and defamatory” light. Wankhede has argued that the series goes beyond creative freedom, turning into a deliberate smear campaign. According to him, it does not merely attack him personally but seeks to undermine public faith in anti-drug enforcement agencies. He maintains that the show was “deliberately conceptualised and executed with the intent to malign Wankhede’s reputation in a colourable and prejudicial manner, especially when proceedings involving him and Aryan Khan remain pending before the Bombay High Court and the Special NDPS Court in Mumbai.”

This case is not just about one officer’s reputation; it is about the image of law enforcement itself. If Bollywood is allowed to paint investigating officers as villains while glamourising star children, the larger question arises — does stardom grant immunity from accountability?

Who is Sameer Wankhede and Why Does Bollywood Fear Him?

Sameer Wankhede is no ordinary bureaucrat. A senior IRS officer and former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), he was the face of multiple high-profile drug investigations that shook the Hindi film industry. His career placed him in direct confrontation with some of Bollywood’s most powerful names, earning him both admiration and hostility.

On the personal front, he is married to actress Kranti Redkar, but professionally, his life has revolved around tackling narcotics networks and enforcing the law. His most controversial assignment was the 2021 cruise ship drug case, where Aryan Khan — the son of Shah Rukh Khan — was arrested along with several others on October 3, 2021. At that time, Wankhede headed the Mumbai NCB and personally supervised the investigation.

Aryan Khan spent several days behind bars before he was granted bail. Ultimately, the case collapsed, with the NCB itself, under a new team led by SK Singh, admitting the “lack of evidence.” Critics of Wankhede called it overreach, but his supporters argued he was targeted for daring to take on Bollywood’s elite. The collapse of the case gave Aryan Khan a free pass, but the bitter clash between the young star and the officer has left a lingering shadow that Bollywood is now trying to rewrite through Netflix’s dramatized storytelling.

Why Wankhede Has Taken Legal Action Now

Wankhede’s lawsuit highlights how Bollywood, instead of reflecting honestly on its drug controversies, has chosen to vilify the officer who brought those issues into the public eye. As reported in his plea, the series portrays him in a “false, malicious, and defamatory” manner. He specifically stresses that the narrative has been crafted to “disseminate a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions.”

One of the most controversial elements mentioned in the suit is a scene in which a character makes an obscene gesture immediately after uttering “Satyamev Jayate.” Wankhede argues that this sequence “constitutes a grave and sensitive violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, which attracts penal consequences under the law.” He further adds that the series violates provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), claiming it deliberately seeks “to outrage national sentiment through the use of obscene and offensive material.”

Bollywood’s creative establishment has often been accused of hiding behind the shield of “artistic freedom” while pushing content that ridicules, mocks, or trivialises institutions of governance. This case, however, goes a step further by questioning whether the entertainment industry has the right to publicly defame serving and retired officers while sensitive legal matters are still pending before courts.

What Wankhede Wants from the Court

The former NCB officer is not mincing words. His lawsuit seeks a permanent and mandatory injunction, a judicial declaration that the Netflix series is defamatory, and a ban on its streaming and distribution. He has also asked for ₹2 crore in damages, which, as mentioned, would go directly to supporting cancer patients.

More than personal relief, his plea is framed as a defense of institutional credibility. According to him, the show doesn’t just tarnish his reputation but “undermines faith in institutions responsible for enforcing drug laws.” By dragging Bollywood and Netflix to court, Wankhede has put the spotlight back on an uncomfortable reality — the deep nexus of glamour, money, and influence in the film industry, and how it often clashes with accountability.

About ‘The Ba***ds of Bollywood’

The series marks Aryan Khan’s debut as a director. Marketed as a bold, high-stakes drama, it follows an ambitious outsider and his friends as they navigate the chaotic and unpredictable world of Bollywood. The cast includes Bobby Deol, Lakshya, and Raghav Juyal in major roles, with cameo appearances from big stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Ranveer Singh.

In true Bollywood fashion, the show combines drama with glamour, star power, and spectacle. But beneath this glitter lies the controversy — the question of whether Aryan Khan has used the medium of cinema to retaliate against the man who once placed him in custody. If so, then this is not art, but a calculated attempt to settle scores using the world’s largest streaming platform as a weapon.

By turning an officer into a villain and turning Bollywood into a victim, the series risks misleading millions of viewers and eroding trust in institutions meant to safeguard society from narcotics. Sameer Wankhede’s legal fight, therefore, is not just about his personal honour — it is a direct confrontation with an industry that often chooses its own convenience over truth.