Ilaiyaraaja's legal team sends notice to Good Bad Ugly makers, demands Rs 5 crore and 'unconditional written apology'

Days after the release of Ajith Kumar-Adhik Ravichandran's Good Bad Ugly, Ilaiyaraaja's legal team has sent a notice to Naveen Yerneni and Yalamanchili Ravi Shankar of Mythri Movie Makers banner for unauthorised usage of the singer-composer's songs in the film.

For the uninitiated, Good Bad Ugly featured three of Ilaiyaraaja's compositions - 'Oththa Roova' from Nattupura Pattu (1996), 'Ilamai Idho Idho' from Kamal Haasan's Sakalakala Vallavan (1982) and 'En Jodi Manja Kuruvi' from Vikram (1986).

In a four-page notice, the team noted that the songs have have been "used, altered, and commercially exploited" without getting prior permission or payment of royalties to Ilaiyaaraja despite holding all legal rights to his work.

"You did not take any such permission from our Client, who is the original author and producer of the musical works and have exceeded the scope of permitted usage by altering and republishing the Works without any contractual or statutory justification, thereby infringing his statutory and economical rights," said the notice.

Further, they underlined that these are in violation of the Section 51 of the Copyright Act and have demanded Mythri Movie Makers to pay a sum of Rs 5 crore towards "unpaid royalties, damages, and legal costs" while tendering an "unconditional written apology" for unauthorised use of his work.

The team has also asked them to stop the makers from further use and distribution his music, while also removing the altered versions of the above mentioned songs from all platforms where they were published. Revenue earned from the "commercial exploitation" of his music must be accounted and sent to them with the details of people and organisations they paid as a royalty or license fee, they added.

Failure to comply with these conditions within seven days of receiving this notice, Ilaiyaraaja's legal team warned, would be deemed a willful breach of his rights and would render the parties accountable for all resulting consequences.

Director Adhik Ravichandran and the makers of Good Bad Ugly are yet to respond to this notice.

The composer had earlier fought several copyright cases and sent legal notices to films and their makers for unauthorised usage of his songs. Last year, he had issued a notice to production banner Sun Pictures over the illegal use of the song ‘Vaa Vaa Pakkam Vaa’ from the 1983 film Thanga Magan in their upcoming Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie. In the same year, he had settled a dispute with the makers of the hit Malayalam survival thriller Manjummel Boys for the unauthorised use of his iconic song 'Kanmani Anbodu'. He had sought a compensation of Rs 2 crore which was later settled for Rs 60 lakh.