Madras High Court hears Dhanush’s plea to restrain Nayanthara

A still from Naanum Rowdy Dhaan movie
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Madras High Court is all set to hear on Thursday (December 12, 2024) a case filed by actor Dhanush K. Raja’s film production firm Wunderbar Films Private Limited to restrain actor Nayanthara, her director husband Vignesh Shivan and Netflix from using any kind of visuals related to the movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in a docu-drama titled Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale.

Justice Abdul Quddhose would be hearing the application filed by Wunderbar seeking an interim injunction against the use of even behind-the-scene (BTS) footage from the 2015 Tamil flick Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in the docu-drama. The applicant firm claimed that use of such footage, without the authorisation of the production house, would amount to copyright infringement.

The production house, represented by its counsel Gautam S. Raman and Maithreyi Canthaswamy Sharma, stated that Ms. Nayanthara had entered into an artist’s agreement with Wunderbar Films on August 27, 2014 for acting in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. Then, she had vested all rights of every kind and character in perpetuity with regard to her performance, appearance, likeness, name and or voice in connection with the movie.

“In view of clause 4 of the artist agreement, the applicant owns the copyright over all the artists performance in connection with the cinematograph film meaning thereby that if any picture or video of the artist is captured as long as they are in their character on the set of the cinematograph film, the copyright over the same vests only with the applicant,” Wunderbar asserted.

Claiming that she and her husband, who was the director of the 2015 movie, had used BTS footage in the docu-drama without obtaining any authorisation from the production house, Wunderbar sought an injunction restraining them from continuing to use the contentious footage in the docu-drama released on popular Over the Top (OTT) platform Netflix on November 18.

Days before the release of the docu-drama, Ms. Nayanthara had addressed an open letter to Mr. Dhanush on November 16 and posted it on her X handle.

The letter stated that she had sought a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from Wunderbar Films, the producers of the movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, to use some of the songs, visual cuts, and photographs in her docu-drama as it was during the shoot of that movie that her and Mr. Sivan’s love blossomed. She accused Mr. Dhanush of not having issued the NOC even after two years of repeated requests.

Accusing Mr. Dhanush of harbouring personal grudge against her and her husband, Ms. Nayanthara also said, she was shocked to receive a legal notice from him seeking damages of ₹10 crore after the release of docu-drama’s trailer in which, according to her, just three seconds of behind-the-scenes visuals shot using personal devices during the shoot of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan had been used.