Sidharth Malhotra: 'Why would I go against my fans

By HT

Mumbai, Aug. 22 -- Recently, Sidharth Malhotra made headlines when a story claimed that he had sent a legal notice to two Delhi-based school students for an amount of R10 crore. This was because they had started a fan club dedicated to him. But the young actor says, "It has been done to protect my fans and not go against them."

According to Sidharth, he had to send a legal notice because the duo was running a fake website which was selling merchandise like Tshirts, mugs, shirts and jackets using his name. "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 R1,500 and R2,000. It's clearly illegal, because you can't use my name for a profitable business like this," he says.

Apparently, what triggered his apprehension was when companies informed him about some fans who were approaching them on behalf of the actor. In order to check this fake portal, someone from the actor's team even placed an order for a T-shirt, which was acknowledged by the owners. That's when they took legal action. "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?" says the actor.