Dhanush sues Nayanthara for using ‘infringed content’ in documentary
Dhanush and Nayanthara have previously been co-stars whose conflict over this issue has been public in the last few weeks.
Chennai: Escalating a spat, actor K Dhanush has sued actor Nayanthara Kurian by filing a civil suit in the Madras high court for using clips from a film (Naanum Rowdy Dhaan) which he produced and did not give his clearance for it to be used in their documentary on Netflix. Justice Abdul Quddhose on Wednesday ordered a notice to the actress and others.
Top actors, Dhanush and Nayanthara have previously been co-stars whose conflict over this issue has been public in the last few weeks. Dhanush’s production company, Wunderbar Films Private Limited filed the petition against five respondents including Nayanthara, her husband and film director Vignesh Shivan and a Mumbai based unit of Netflix.
Dhanush’s contention is that it infringes on the copyright of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan that was released 10 years ago. The film is Shivan’s first directorial debut where he met Nayanthara on the sets and they began to date forming a crux of “Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale” which is about the actor’s life, soaring film career, and a star-studded wedding in 2022 which was released on Netflix on November 18.
On the same day that the trailer of “Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale” was released on November 9, Dhanush had sent an email notice to Mumbai-based Los Gatos Production Services India LLP (a unit of Netflix). On November 11, he received a response that “behind the scenes (BTS)” from the film Naanum Rowdy Dhaan is not owned by the applicant company. Dhanush stated in his civil suit that the BTS was shot by people hired by them on set and it was uploaded in their YouTube channel, Wunderbar Films. He had demanded Rs.10 Crores towards damages if they failed to take down the “infringed” content.
On November 16, Nayanthara uploaded an open letter on her social media handles addressed to Dhanush that for two years they had been requesting a no-objection certificate from him to use videos, songs, photos from the film but he did not agree. Nayanthara tore into Dhanush in the letter and said that it was an “all-time low” for him for demanding 10-crore for using three seconds of BTS in her Netflix release. Dhanush called the letter “highly defamatory” in his suit. Two days later, “Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale” released on Netflix on November 18.
“The 3 rd respondent (Nayanthara) was aware of the fact that she should not use any visuals or video of the said movie be it off screen or on screen without the prior consent of the applicant company but had intentionally chosen to infringe upon the applicant’s copyrights which has caused irreparable loss to the applicant’s company as the said documentary was released on Netflix on 18.11.2024 worldwide, wherein the commercial impact was huge, causing loss to the applicant’s copyrights over the Cinematograph work,” Dhanush suit read. “The said acts of the respondents clearly violate the copyrights of the applicant and as such the respondents have clearly breached into the applicant’s copyrights intentionally which is protected under the Copyright Act, 1957. Thus, in view of the said circumstances, I am approaching this Hon’ble Court on urgent basis, temporarily valuing the loss for infringement of copyrights at Rs.1,00,00,000/- and crave leave to substantiate the time at the time of trial.”
Since Los Gatos Production Services India LLP is based in Mumbai, Dhanush’s legal representation also sought the court to grant leave (meaning permission), under clause 12 of the Letters Patent, to sue the company along with others in the jurisdiction of the Madras high court.
