Preity Zinta gets court protection against misuse of her name and personality

Preity Zinta has secured legal protection for her personality rights after the Delhi High Court restrained the misuse of her name, image, likeness and other aspects of her identity through morphed and manipulated content.

The court observed that the creation and circulation of such altered content violated the actor’s personality rights, publicity rights and moral rights. It further connected these rights to Preity Zinta’s fundamental rights, including the Right to Life and Personal Liberty and Freedom of Speech and Expression under Articles 21 and 19 of the Constitution.

“The plaintiff’s personality rights, publicity rights and moral rights are violated by creation of such morphed and superimposed content,” the court said.

The ruling comes as celebrities increasingly seek legal protection against artificial intelligence-generated images, deepfakes and other forms of digital manipulation that can affect their reputation and personal identity.

Preity Zinta’s Bollywood comeback

The legal victory arrives ahead of Preity Zinta’s return to the big screen. Once among the most popular and highest-paid actors in Hindi cinema, Preity stepped away from full-time acting after her marriage and has made only a handful of film appearances since 2008.

Her last full-length role was in the 2008 film Bhaiaji Superhit. Now, after a long break, she is set to make her Bollywood comeback with Batwara 1947, starring alongside Sunny Deol and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

The period drama is scheduled to release in theatres on August 14.