The Madras High Court has directed the makers of the Tamil film Dude to remove two Ilaiyaraaja-composed songs used in the film without permission, marking another major development in the veteran composer’s ongoing legal battles over unauthorized usage of his work.
The order comes after Ilaiyaraaja filed a petition stating that Dude, directed by Keerthiswaran and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, had incorporated two of his iconic tracks, “Karutha Machan” and “Nooru Varusham”, without obtaining his approval.
Court Rejects Producers Request for Extension
Mythri Movie Makers had requested seven days time to remove the songs from the film, but the court declined, observing that the unlicensed use of the compositions affected their “sanctity”.
Justice N.Senthil Kumar has now ordered the production house to file a formal response to Ilaiyaraaja’s petition. The case has been adjourned to 7th January.
Producers Argue They Obtained Rights from Sony Music
In an earlier hearing senior counsel P.V Balasubramaniam representing Mythri Movie Makers, countered the copyright infringement allegations. He argued that the production company had legitimately obtained the rights from Sony Music, the current copyright holder, the songs were composer before the amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957 and under the earlier legal framework, the original producer was the first copyright owner, and those rights were later assigned to Sony Music.
The legal debate therefore centres on whether Ilaiyaraaja retains personality or moral rights over compositions that were contractually transferred decades ago.
This case follows a similar legal confrontation earlier this year, when Mythri Movie Makers were summoned to court for using Ilaiyaraaja’s songs without consent in another film, “Good Bad Ugly”, directed by Adhik Ravichandran. The song “Oththa Roova (1996)” and “Ilamai Idho Idho (1982)” were found to gave been used without approval. The court then barred the producers from including Ilaiyaraaja’s music, leading to the temporary removal of the film from Netflix. The streaming version was reinstated only after the songs were replaced with another background music by GV Prakash.
Next Steps in the Dude movie Case
With the court’s latest directive, Dude must immediately remove the two disputed songs pending further legal proceedings. The 7th January hearing is expected to address ownership questions and clarify whether personality rights override prior copyright assignments.
Sources: Cinema Express
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