Ilaiyaraaja Slaps Notices To Ajith's Good Bad Ugly Producers; Demands Rs 5 Crore Compensation & Apology

Legendary Ilayaraja sends a Legal Notice to Mythri Movie Makers: Ajith Kumar-starrer latest dark action-thriller written and directed by Adhik Ravichandran, 'Good Bad Ugly,' is doing pretty good at the box office worldwide after its theatrical debut on April 10 worldwide. Despite earning mixed-to-negative reviews, the Trisha-starrer movie is continuing to run successfully by dethroning the year's biggest Kollywood hit Dragon. The movie made headlines for another reason apart from its box office collection. Legendary musician Ilaiyaraaja slapped notices to the filmmakers.

The 81-year-old maestro is known for not tolerating the unauthorized use of his work in any form. He also hit the headlines many a time for the same reason. In the latest case, the producers at the helm of Mythri Movie Makers- Naveen Yerneni and Yalamanchali Ravi Shankar - faced the charges for not obtaining necessary permissions to use three of his songs for Ajith's latest actioner 'Good Bad Ugly.'

The songs that were used in the action-thriller are- 'Illamai Idho Idho' from 'Sakalakala Vallavan' (1982), 'En Jodi Manja Kuruvi' from 'Vikram' (1986), and 'oththa Roova' from 1996 release 'Nattupura Pattu.'

Apology & Rs 5 Crore Compensation

Along with sending the producers a legal notice, 'the' musician also demanded an open apology along with Rs 5 Crore in compensation. In the notice, the renowned composer alleged, "used, altered, and commercially exploited" in the film, without obtaining express consent/permission of our Client and/or his authorization, and without payment of royalties that he is statutorily entitled to. Such actions constitute unauthorized use, appropriation and a clear infringement of our Client's copyright and moral rights. You may also please take note that he has never accorded any permission or consent, either express or implied, for using/altering/distorting/changing the form of the musical work that has been used in the cinematograph."

Mythri Movie Makers, however, claim that they have obtained every necessary permission to use the songs in the film.

Apart from the Rs 5 Crore compensation and removal of the songs from the film, the notice also demanded a written apology and a "detailed account of revenue earned from the commercial exploitation of the said works."

Earlier, Ilaiyaraaja also slapped notices to the Sun Pictures banner for using his song from 'Thanga Magan' (1983) in the upcoming film titled 'Coolie' starring superstar Rajinikanth by Lokesh Kanagaraj. He had also issued a legal notice to the producers of the Malayalam second-highest grosser 'Manjummel Boys' for "unlawfully exploiting" the song 'Kanmani Anbodu,' from the Tamil movie Guna. In addition, the musician is also fighting an ongoing copyright case seeking 'special moral rights' over 4500 songs he composed for about 1000 songs between the 1970s and 1990s, according to the available information.