Bengaluru Court Restrains Defamatory Content Against Vijay Deverakonda, Rashmika Mandanna-Starrer 'Ranabaali'

Prior to the worldwide theatrical release of the Telugu film 'Ranabaali' today, a Bengaluru Court granted an ex parte interim relief against defamatory and false content against the film across social media and other platforms.

The order restrains X Corp, YouTube, Google India, BookMyShow, IMDb, Facebook India, Meta Platforms and unidentified John Doe defendants from hosting or circulating false and defamatory content targeting the Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna-starrer film.

After hearing the counsel for the production house and the affidavit of the Managing Partner of the firm, the court noted that the plaintiff had made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte temporary injunction against defamatory content.

The Court accordingly granted the interim order restraining the defendants, their officers, agents, representatives, and persons acting through or under them:

“...from facilitating the dissemination of the impugned content, from continuing to host, publish, upload, transmit, circulate, communicate, reproduce, republish or otherwise make available the false and defamatory content concerning the plaintiff and/or the cinematograph film titled 'Ranabaali' shown in the schedule till next of hearing as prayed in I.A.No.1….”

The interim application sought directions to the platforms to disable access to, remove, or de-index the scheduled URLs and comments that are allegedly defamatory or false, and to take reasonable steps against republication of the same or substantially identical content. A prayer was also made to preserve account information, IP logs, metadata and other relevant data for production before the Court and for identification of persons responsible.

According to the plaint, following the release of the official teaser on 09.09.2026, derogatory and defamatory comments, mocking reaction videos, and 'flop before release' content began circulating across the impugned platforms even before the movie's theatrical release. The plaint terms the said media campaign as 'review bombing', accompanied by coordinated negative commentary, manipulated ratings and boycott calls through anonymous accounts and bot networks. This was a premeditated move to diminish the commercial viability of the film, it was submitted.

The matter will be taken up again on 6^th November.

On another note, a Madras Court has also granted a John Doe anti-piracy injunction prior to its slated release on October 16.

Appearance: Adv Mehak Chaichani, Rahul Mehta, Navod Prasannan along with Krunal Mehta, Akalya Ravichandran, Karren Koya, Dhwani, Rahul Balakrishnan and Dhakshin.