Ilaiyaraaja Moves Madras High Court Against 'Unauthorised' Use Of His Songs In Dude Movie, Court Reserves Order On Interim Plea

The Madras High Court, on Wednesday, reserved orders on a plea moved by renowned musician Ilaiyaraaja seeking to temporarily restrain Mythri Movie Makers from 'unauthorisedly' using his songs in the recent Tamil movie "Dude", starring Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju. 

Justice N Senthilkumar reserved orders on the interim injunction plea moved by the musician.

Ilaiyaraaja has approached the court seeking a permanent injunction restraining the producers of the Dude movie from using his copyrighted works unauthorizedly and a mandatory injunction asking them to remove such infringing content from the movie. Ilaiyaraaja has also sought for disclosure of profits and gains received by the production house from the unauthorised exploitation of his copyrighted works. 

When the matter came up for hearing today, Senior Advocate S Prabakaran, appearing for the musician, informed the court that two of his musical works, "Nooru Varsham" and "Karutha Machan" were being used in the new movie without getting his authorisation. He argued that the producers had altered, mutilated, and distorted the original work and had used it in the movie, causing harm to the creator, ie, Ilaiyaraaja. 

Prabakaran submitted that the producers had not obtained any permission before using the songs. He contended that Ilaiyaraaja was not associated with the movie in any way as its composer, and that the producers were creating a misleading impression that the composition was the creation of another music producer. 

He also brought to the court's attention another suit filed by him against the same production company in connection with the movie "Good Bad Ugly". He submitted that an interim injunction had already been granted in that suit, and yet the producers had again infringed his rights by using his works in the new movie. 

It was argued that Ilaiyaraaja's moral rights under Section 57 were being affected by the conduct of the production company. Relying on Section 19(9) and Section 19(10) of the Copyright Act, Ilayaraja claimed that as the composer of the songs, he was entitled to receive royalties for their use across any medium. However, despite the statutory protection, his works were violated.

At this point, the judge commented that it had become a trend where the audience likes the remixed version of old songs. He also commented that Ilaiyaraaja should be happy that his songs have resurfaced after almost 30 years.

"This is a new trend. The audience likes the old songs in new form. You should be asking the audience also not to enjoy these modified versions...I can't even comment on how many times I've watched it. After 30 years, these songs have resurfaced, isn't that good?" the judge asked.

To this, Prabakaran submitted that if the makers wanted to create a new version of the song, they should have sought permission from Ilaiyaraaja without unauthorisedly using his works. He added that the producers have even failed to pay any royalty to Ilaiyaraaja, which he was statutorily entitled to. 

When the court asked Senior Advocate PV Balasubramaniam, appearing for the production company, on why it continued to infringe Ilaiyaraaja's works, the senior advocate submitted that the question was whether Ilaiyaraaja continued to remain the author of the works, since the music was produced before the amendment of the Copyright Act. 

Balasubramaniam submitted that since all the music in question was composed before the amendment of the Copyright Act, the producer of the movies continued to be its author. He submitted that the producer of the concerned movies had sold the rights of the songs to Sony Music, which then given to the production company. He thus submitted that the production company had used the songs in the new movie after entering into the necessary agreements.

Balasubramaniam also submitted that the movie had already completed its theatrical run and had been released on the OTT platform, and there was no urgency to grant the interim prayer as sought by Ilaiyaraaja. He also questioned Ilaiyaraaja on filing the present suit without impleading the music label or the producers of the movies in which the songs originally appeared. 

The court, after hearing the parties, reserved orders on the interim injunction application.

Counsel for Petitioner: Senior Advocate S Prabakaran

Counsel for Respondent: Senior Advocate PV Balasubramaniam

Case Title: Dr. Ilaiyaraaja v. Mythri Movie Makers

Case No: OA 1103 of 2025 and C.S (Comm Div) 299 of 2025