Madras High Court Temporarily Restrains Makers Of "Dude" Movie From Using Songs Of Ilaiyaraaja

The Madras High Court, on Friday (28th November), temporarily restrained the makers of the "Dude" movie from using the songs of renowned musician Ilaiyaraaja. 

Justice N Senthilkumar granted an interim injunction in a plea moved by the musician seeking to restrain Mythri Movie Makers, producers of the "Dude" movie, from using his songs unauthorisedly. The court had reserved orders on November 26, after hearing the parties. 

Ilaiyaraaja had 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 disclosure of profits and gains received by the production house from the unauthorised exploitation of his copyrighted works.

While hearing the plea for interim injunction, 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.

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. 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. 

On the other hand, Senior Advocate PV Balasubramaniam, appearing for the production company, 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 gave them 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. 

Counsel for Petitioner: Senior Advocate S Prabakaran

Counsel for Respondent: Senior Advocate PV Balasubramaniam

Case Title: Dr. Ilaiyaraaja v. Mythri Movie Makers

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 449

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