DELHI: Siddharth Malhotra got one of the most famous debuts last year in director Karan Johar’s ‘Student Of The Year’. With stardom came fans, but looks like Siddharth Malhotra is not taking this fandom lightly.
Two Delhi-based school students had, during the promotions for ‘Student Of The Year’, opened a fan-club website for their idol Siddharth Malhotra. The siblings Shikha Gupta and Swapnil Gupta had even managed to get approval from the man himself.
The students had begun selling merchandise and t-shirts too in the star’s name. Perhaps that is what got to Siddharth Malhotra’s head as he slapped them with a legal notice of Rs 10 crores to get the site shut down.
The siblings have said, “He wanted us to transfer the URL of the site on his name so that he could run the fan club now. He did not even try contacting us before sending the legal notice.”
The actor’s spokesperson has said, “Yes, we have sent them a letter from our lawyers and they have agreed to pull the website off.”
This is a big blow for fans of actors anywhere. Now fans will definitely think twice before opening websites for their idols. Also, it surely seems Siddharth Malhotra has lost a few of his fans.
UPDATE: Siddharth Malhotra has spoken about the controversy. He says, “It has been done to protect my fans and not go against them.”
“They are making it sound as if I am suing my own fans. But they were illegally selling merchandise under my name on a website that was guised as mine. Shirts, jackets and mugs were being sold for Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000. It’s clearly illegal, because you can’t use my name for a profitable business like this.”
He also added that, “In a way, I was protecting my other fans when I served the legal notice. Later, I was told that they are young, college kids but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s illegal. We have over 31 genuine fan clubs in my name. They are raising the issue possibly because it’s affecting their business. Why would I go against my fans?”
