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IRS officer Sameer Wankhede has hit out at Shah Rukh Khan’s production house, Red Chillies Entertainment, over its Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, directed by Aryan Khan. In a rejoinder filed before the Delhi High Court, Wankhede described the show as “a calculated hit job” meant to damage his reputation, rejecting Red Chillies’ claim that the project is a satire. Wankhede had earlier filed a defamation suit, alleging that the series portrays a government officer resembling him in a negative light. He pointed to similarities in the character’s appearance, speech pattern, and even his trademark phrase, “Satyamev Jayate.” According to him, this was a “premeditated and targeted campaign” designed to ridicule him publicly. Red Chillies Defends Its Series As Satire The production house, owned by Shah Rukh Khan and headed creatively by his son Aryan, has denied the allegations. It argued that The Ba***ds of Bollywood does not name or directly depict Wankhede and instead functions as a “situational satire.” Red Chillies described Wankhede’s petition as “wholly misconceived, untenable in law, and devoid of merit.” The company also maintained that granting an injunction or removing the contested scene would “distort the narrative flow” of the series, which has been streaming on Netflix since September 18, 2025. ‘They Can’t Hide Behind Satire’: Wankhede In his latest filing, Wankhede insisted that the defendants “cannot hide behind the convenient veil of satire or artistic expression to justify a malicious act.” He further alleged that the series serves as a form of “revenge” for Aryan Khan’s 2021 arrest in a drug-related case, which Wankhede had led as part of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Aryan was later cleared of all charges after spending three weeks in jail, but tensions between the two have persisted. The Delhi High Court has directed all parties to submit their written statements and scheduled the next hearing for November 10 before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav.
