Akshay Kumar Joins Celeb Wave Seeking High Court Protection for Personality Rights

Akshay kumar has moved the Bombay High Court to curb the misuse of his likeness, image, and voice through Artificial Intelligence, following a recent landmark ruling protecting Asha Bhosle’s rights.

October 15, 2025: Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar has joined a growing list of Indian celebrities in a legal fight to safeguard his digital identity. The actor has filed a lawsuit in the Bombay High Court to seek protection of his personality rights against unknown individuals and entities who are allegedly violating them, particularly through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

While specific details of the infringement are awaited, the lawsuit underscores the rising concerns within the film industry over the misuse of celebrity likeness, voice, and image via sophisticated AI technology like deepfakes and voice cloning. The matter is scheduled to be heard by the court soon.

The AI Threat and Celebrity Rights

Akshay Kumar’s move is part of a significant legal trend in India where public figures are proactively approaching the judiciary to protect their image and commercial interests from unauthorized digital exploitation.

In recent times, several prominent personalities, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, Rishab Shetty, and Akkineni Nagarjuna, have sought court intervention for similar issues.

Following the Asha Bhosle Precedent

The legal action follows a landmark order earlier this month where the Bombay High Court issued an interim injunction protecting the personality rights of veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle.

In that ruling, the court restrained various entities from misusing the singer’s personal attributes—including her name, images, and voice—even when replicated using AI tools. Crucially, the court stated that making AI tools available to replicate a celebrity’s voice without consent constitutes a violation of their identity rights.

What are Personality Rights?

The Delhi High Court, in a previous ruling protecting Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, provided a clear definition of the issue:

“Personality Rights of individuals, simply put, entail the right to control and protect the exploitation of one’s image, name, likeness or other attributes of the individuals’ personality, in addition to the commercial gains that can be derived from the same.”

Personality rights are broadly split into two branches:

1. Right of Publicity: Protects against unauthorized commercial exploitation, such as using a celebrity’s face in advertisements.
2. Right to Privacy: Guards against intrusion into personal dignity, covering misuse through deepfakes, morphed images, fabricated endorsements, or intimate doctored content.

As AI-generated content becomes more sophisticated and pervasive, Akshay Kumar’s lawsuit highlights the critical new legal frontier in India to prevent reputational harm and commercial loss caused by the digital manipulation of celebrity identities.