Court Room Drama Jolly LLB 2 Lands In Legal Soup, Sued By Bata For Projecting Brand In Poor Light

It's rather ironic that a film that is a courtroom drama has landed itself in a legal soup, just a few days since the release of its official trailer. According to a Legally India report, footwear giant Bata has slapped legal notices on the makers and actors of Jolly LLB 2 for projecting the brand in a bad light. A recent Deccan Chronicle report claims that the brand has sent a  legal notice to Fox Star Studios, executive producer Naren Kumar, directors Deepak Jacob, Amit Shah and Subhash Kapoor, actors Annu Kapoor and Akshay Kumar, YouTube, PVR Cinemas and Satyam Cineplexes.

In one of the scenes from the trailer, Annu Kapoor tells Akshay Kumar, 

YouTube

"Varna Kya….BATA ka joota pehan kar, tuchhi si terricot ki shirt pehan kar, saala humse zabaan lada rahe hain"

As per the report by Deccan Chronicle, the petition states,

YouTube Screengrab

"The dialogue is intended to convey that the brand BATA is adorned only by lower strata of society and one should feel humiliated if one wears BATA footwear, in fact the expression and reaction to such a dialogue by Akshay Kumar in the trailer shows that even the person to whom such a statement is hurled took the same extremely negatively and slapped Annu Kapoor in Open Court as if he has been severely abused in the dialogue or he has been hurled with deliberate effort to tarnish the brand image of Bata, “perhaps at the instance of some competitors of [Bata] whose products are promoted by Mr Akshay Kumar as a brand ambassador."

Bata has asked for a personal apology as well as an apology published in mainstream national newspapers. Further, they also want them to pull down the 'allegedly' derogatory trailer and publish a prominent apology on all versions of its trailer, for damaging the reputation of Bata.

Just to jog your memory a little, Salman Khan starrer Dabangg had also faced a similar controversy when the healthcare brand Emami had sued them for depicting their product Zandu Balm in a derogatory light.

YouTube

What followed was a mutual out of court settlement after which Arbaaz Khan's wife and fellow co-producer of the film Malaika Arora Khan was signed in as a brand ambassador of the lotion.

We are yet to see how the filmmakers and cast will react to this and if they'll agree to the demands made by Bata.