Coolie makers in trouble

Renowned music composer Ilaiyaraaja has sent a legal notice to Sun Pictures, producers of Rajini’s upcoming film Coolie, alleging unauthorized use of his music in the film’s title teaser reveal. The legal notice cites violation of the Copyright Act of 1957, on the grounds that recreating a version of the track without proper authorization constitutes a crime.

An excerpt from the legal notice issued to Sun Pictures reads: “Our Client is shocked, surprised and concerned to notice that you [Sun Pictures] have, without obtaining authorization and permission, exploited the musical work/song of our Client’— the vaa vaa pakkam vaa song from the Tamil cinematography film Thanga Magan and used the portion of the song which would also amount to distorted version of the musical work, in your cinematography film Coolie without obtaining proper consent/permission of or payment of royalty fee from our Client or the usage of the original/adapted/ modified/altered version.”

Ilaiyaraaja has demanded that the producers either obtain the necessary permissions or remove it from the teaser.

The notice further alleges that director Lokesh Kanagaraj has a history of using Ilaiyaraaja’s musical works without authorisation in his films, including the Kamal Haasan-starrer Vikram (2022) where the song Vikram ..Vikram was used. The developing situation is even more significant given the close friendship between Ilaiyaraaja and Rajinikanth. It remains to be seen how this issue will be resolved — will the producers comply with Ilaiyaraaja’s demands or opt to have the matter taken to court?