Netflix served legal notice over Madhuri Dixit comment in Big Bang Theory, Jaya Bachchan says ’badi gandi zubaan hai’

A legal notice has been served to Netflix asking them to remove the first episode of season two of popular sitcom Big Bang Theory for comparing Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit.

The political analyst Mithun Vijay Kumar has noted that in the first episode of the second season, two characters from the series- Raj Koothrapalli, played by Kunal Nayyar, and Jim Parsons who plays Sheldon Cooper compare Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. The legal notice has been sent to Netflix's office in Mumbai.

In the scene in question, Sheldon Cooper calls Aishwarya Rai a poor man's Madhuri Dixit. In response to his comment, Raj Koothrapalli replies, "Aishwarya Rai is a goddess, by comparison, Madhuri Dixit is a leprous prostitute".

Kumar said the character's comments are both disrespectful and defamatory. He has asked Netflix to remove the episode or face legal action for promoting discrimination against women. The notice has been sent to the Netflix office in Mumbai, as per the news agency.

"Recently, I came across an episode of the show Big Bang Theory on Netflix where Kunal Nayyar's character uses an offensive and derogatory term to refer to the legendary Bollywood actress @MadhuriDixit. As a fan of Madhuri Dixit since childhood, I was deeply disturbed by the dialogue. I found it highly derogatory and offensive towards Indian culture and women.

So I asked my lawyer to send a legal notice to Netflix, requesting that they remove the episode from their platform. It's important to hold media companies accountable for the content they distribute, and I hope that @NetflixIndia will take this matter seriously." Kumar wrote on Twitter.

Mithun Vijay Kumar has asked the streamer to remove the episode in question or face legal action for promoting discrimination against women.

Actor and MP from Samajwadi party Jaya Bachchan also shared her opinion on this scene in an interview with Times of India. The veteran actress asked if Kunal Nayyar is “insane”. And said that he has a “badi gandi zubaan hai (he is foul-mouthed). She also went on to say that the actor needs “to be sent to mental asylum,” and his family should be asked what they think of his comment.

"Big Bang Theory", a CBS sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, premiered in 2007, and concluded in 2019 after a 12 season run.

The show revolved around Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper (Parsons), both physicists at Caltech, who share an apartment; Penny (Kaley Cuoco), a waitress living across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's friends and coworkers, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali (Nayyar).

All the 12 seasons of the show are available on Netflix.