Pawan Kalyan
Actor and Deputy CM of Andhra Pradesh
Telugu superstar turned Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh who went to the Delhi High Court in 2025 to shield his name, face, and voice from AI and deepfake exploitation.
In his words
The balance of convenience lies in favour of the plaintiff, and the continuing availability of the infringing content would cause irreparable injury to the plaintiff.
Biography
Pawan Kalyan (born Konidela Kalyan Babu, 1971) is one of the biggest stars of Telugu cinema and the founder of the Jana Sena Party. In 2024 he became Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, making him one of the most powerful figures in Indian politics to take a personal stand against synthetic media.
Suing the deepfakes
In December 2025 Kalyan secured an interim injunction from the Delhi High Court, under Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, restraining more than a dozen entities from commercially exploiting his name, image, likeness, or voice — including through artificial intelligence, generative AI, and deepfakes — without his consent. The court also directed e-commerce platforms to delist unauthorised merchandise built on his AI-generated likeness. A separate order halted an AI film that had cast a synthetic version of his son, Akira Nandan, without permission.
Kalyan is not an opponent of technology in general; his fight is narrower and increasingly common among Indian celebrities, who have turned to personality-rights litigation as the country grapples with a flood of AI fakes. His case sits alongside similar protections won by Ilaiyaraaja and other public figures, part of a fast-forming Indian jurisprudence on identity in the age of generative AI.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/pawan-kalyan