Actor Dhanush sues Nayanthara before Madras High Court

Actor Dhanush K. Raja’s Wunderbar Films Private Limited has filed a civil suit in the Madras High Court against actor Nayanthara Kurian, her director-husband Vignesh Sivan, her Rowdy Pictures Private Limited, and two others for having used certain visuals related to Tamil movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in a Netflix docu-drama titled Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale.
Since Los Gatos Production Services India LLP, an entity through which Netflix reports its content investments in India, was based in Mumbai, Wunderbar Films has taken out an application urging the High Court to grant leave (permission), under clause 12 of the Letters Patent, to sue the company too, along with the others, within the territorial jurisdiction of the Madras High Court.
The application, filed through advocates Gautam S. Raman and Maithreyi Canthaswamy Sharma, was listed for hearing before Justice Abdul Quddhose on Wednesday (November 27, 2024). The dispute between Mr. Dhanush and Ms. Nayanthara had become public days before the release of the docu-drama on November 18. The actress had addressed an open letter to Mr. Dhanush on November 16 and posted it on her X handle. Senior counsel P.S. Raman, representing the applicant, urged the judge to grant leave, but senior counsel Sathish Parasaran and R. Parthasarathy, representing Ms. Nayanthara and Netflix, opposed the same.
After hearing the preliminary arguments advanced by both sides, the judge allowed the application to grant leave, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the main case and after taking note that Ms. Nayanthara, Mr. Sivan, and Rowdy Pictures were located within the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court and a major part of the cause of action had arisen over here.
In an affidavit filed in support of the application, the director of Wunderbar Films Sreyas Srinivasan contended that neither Ms. Nayanthara nor Netflix was entitled to use any footage, including the behind-the-scenes (BTS) visuals, related to the 2015 Tamil flick Naanum Rowdy Dhaan produced by the applicant company without obtaining prior permission from the producer.
He said, Ms. Nayanthara had entered into an artist’s agreement with Wunderbar Films on August 27, 2014 vesting 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,” the applicant asserted.
On finding the BTS visuals having been used without authorisation in the trailer of the docu-drama, Wunderbar claimed to have issued a notice to Netflix on November 9. However, it received a reply from Netflix as well as Tarc Studios LLP, the producers of the docu-drama, on November 11, stating that those visuals were personal in nature and not shot by persons commissioned by Wunderbar.
However, highlighting that Mr. Sivan was the director of the movie and that he too had been engaged by Wunderbar on work-on-hire basis, Mr. Srinivasan said, the BTS visuals of the movie had also been uploaded on the YouTube channel of the production house on October 22, 2015. He told the court that this issue too was taken to the notice of Netflix in the subsequent legal notice.
Replying to it on November 15, 2024, Los Gatos told Wunderbar that it had entered into a production service agreement with Tarc Studios and that the latter claimed to be in possession of all necessary permissions for the footage used in the docu-drama. Los Gatos also reportedly told the applicant that any objection with respect to footage used in the docu-drama could be taken up only with Tarc Studios.
Mr. Srinivas also temporarily valued the loss due to copyright infringment to be ₹1 crore.
The dispute between Mr. Dhanush and Ms. Nayanthara had become public days before the release of the docu-drama on November 18. The actress had addressed an open letter to Mr. Dhanush on November 16 and posted it on her X handle.
Also Read : Festering vengeance: Nayanthara blasts Dhanush over legal notice, pens open letter
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.
Published – November 27, 2024 11:22 am IST
crime, law and justice