Notice for Rs 10 crore damages to Nayanthara – What is the reason given by Dhanush’s side?

caption, A Netflix documentary on Nayanthara will release on the 18th

Actress Nayanthara has said that the film’s producer, actor Dhanush, has demanded Rs 10 crore as compensation for using a 3-second video taken during the shooting of ‘Naanum Raudithan’ in the trailer of her upcoming documentary on Netflix ODD.

Nayanthara’s statement today (November 16) with various allegations against Dhanush has created a huge debate in the film industry.

Meanwhile, no direct explanation has been given by actor Dhanush regarding these allegations. However, in the notice sent to Nayanthara’s side, Dhanush’s side’s arguments have been mentioned, his lawyer Arun.

He stated in the notice, “The fact that Nayanthara’s side has not denied that the copyright owner of the film Nai Naam Rowdi is owned by Wonderbar Productions is sufficient to establish that Dhanush is also the owner of the footage shot during the shoot.”

Various actresses have come out in support of Nayanthara by sharing her statement on social media pages on Instagram. Meanwhile, another party on social media is criticizing Nayanthara for doing this as a publicity stunt for the documentary.

What is the background of this controversy which is becoming a major topic of conversation on social media?

BBC Tamil WhatsApp Channel — caption, Join BBC Tamil Whatsapp Channel Click here.

What is the Nayanthara and Dhanush controversy?

Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale, a docu-drama in which actress Nayanthara shares her life, love and marriage, will be released on Netflix on the 18th.

Nayanthara and director Vignesh Sivan got married on June 9, 2022. The Netflix documentary was announced as their marriage ended.

The trailer of this documentary was released recently.

It is in this context that Nayanthara has released a statement on her social media pages today. In it, the actor made various allegations against Dhanush.

What does Nayantara say?

The gist of the three-page report was this:

“Following the release of the trailer of the Netflix documentary ‘Naanum Raudithan’, only 3 seconds of footage shot by personal devices were used. In this case, Dhanush sent a notice asking for Rs 10 crore compensation for that, which shocked them,” Nayanthara said in the statement.

Nayanthara mentioned that many of her well-wishers from the film industry have contributed to the documentary and the memories of many of her films have been featured.

In the trailer of the documentary, director Atlee, actress Radhika, actor Rana Dagupathi, Nagarjuna, director Vishnuvardhan and others who worked with Nayanthara can be seen talking about Nayanthara.

Also, both Nayanthara and Vignesh Sivan shared about their love and marriage. Scenes and even songs from his major films have been used here and there.

Actor Dhanush — caption, Nayanthara has said about Dhanush that she is asking for Rs 10 crore as compensation for the three-second scene.

Nayanthara said in her statement that after two years of waiting, she was unable to get an unimpeded certificate from Dhanush and because she was not allowed to use songs, scenes and even photographs from ‘Naanum Raudithan’, she re-edited the documentary and brought it to its current form.

Nayanthara mentioned that not even being given the opportunity to use the lyrics of the film broke her heart.

“Does the producer have the power to control the freedom and life of those on the set?” Nayanthara also questioned.

He also said, “We will respond legally to Dhanush’s notice.”

Supporting fellow actresses

Soon after Nayanthara’s statement, some other actresses including Anupama Parameswaran, Anju Kurian, Aishwarya Lashmi also ‘liked’ Nayanthara’s post.

Notably, actress Parvathy also shared the statement on her Instagram page.

In the statement, Nayanthara alleged that Dhanush had done this “personally and not professionally and financially”.

Meanwhile, Vignesh Sivan shared a video of Dhanush’s speech at an audio launch event and also shared a notice sent by Dhanush saying ‘Live, let live’ on Instagram.

Nayantara — caption, ‘Naanum Rowdithan’ released 10 years ago became a hit movie

Nayanthara’s 2015 release ‘Nanum Raudithan’, produced by Dhanush, was a hit for Nayanthara. This is director Vignesh Sivan’s second film.

Vijay Sethupathi, Radhika, Parthiban, Anandraj. At that time, film critics said that it gave a novel experience in many ways as a comedy film in the alliance of RJ Balaji and others.

Nayanthara won the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress in 2016 for this film.

Speaking on the award stage, Nayanthara thanked the entire film crew including Vijay Sethupathi, Vignesh Sivan, Anirudh. Talking about Dhanush, he said, “Dhanush hated my performance in this film. I apologize to Dhanush for that.” Dhanush also laughs hearing that. This video was very popular at that time.

What did Dhanush’s side say?

Nayanthara’s husband and director Vignesh Sivan shared the notice sent by Dhanush’s lawyer Arun asking for compensation of Rs 10 crore to Nayanthara’s side on his Instagram page.

(Vignesh Sivan, who had earlier shared the three-page notice, later deleted the other two pages and shared only the portion asking for damages of Rs 10 crore on Instagram.)

Accordingly, in the notice, Dhanush’s lawyer has said, “The filmmaker has the right to use the photographs taken during the shoot, photo-shoots, videos and videos taken for the promotion of the film on any platforms including the media.”

Nayanthara - Vignesh Sivan — caption, The parts of the two’s love and marriage are included in this documentary film

“The fact that Nayanthara’s side has not denied that Wunderbar is the copyright holder of the film Nanum Rowdi is enough to establish that Dhanush is the owner of the footage taken during the shooting,” it said.

Also, “The videos taken during the shoot were taken by a person employed by us (work on hire – owned by the owner rather than the person doing the work). On 22.10.2015 the shooting videos have been uploaded on official YouTube channel of Wonderbar Films.

He (Nayanthara) cannot deny that he (Nayanthara) did not know that these videos were on Vanderbar’s YouTube channel for 10 years. “By this Nayanthara is trying to mislead ‘Netflix India’,” it said.

Accordingly, Dhanush’s lawyer has stated in the notice that Dhanush is the exclusive owner of everything related to the film.

“The opposition’s claim that Wunderbar did not hire anyone to take videos during the shoot is baseless. Claiming that the footage captured during filming belongs to the person who took it is too superficial. They also belong to the producer,” the notice said.

Therefore, he said that the footage should be removed within 24 hours, otherwise legal action will be taken and damages of Rs 10 crore will be demanded.

What does the law say?

Speaking to BBC Tamil, lawyer Vetrichelvan explained about the Copyright Act 1957.

“Copyright is what can be given to literary and artistic works. Different types of copyrights are granted for books, music, visuals.

In this matter, even if it is a video taken during the shooting, according to the law, the producer has the right to it,” he said.

“There is a provision in the law to give a certain amount or percentage of money per year to the main actors who participated in the film every time it is broadcast in foreign countries. But in India, these laws have not developed to that extent,” says Vetrichelvan.

However, he notes that in the case of cinema nowadays, everyone clearly establishes copyright for all platforms as a producer contract.

In that way, all the rights related to ‘Nanum Raudithan’ are likely to be with its producer Dhanush, he said.

But, there are some exceptions (fair use) in copyright law. “He points out that for literary, research purposes, songs or footage can be used for up to 30 seconds without their permission or approval, but commercial use of the same would be infringement,” he says.

Stating that it is not clear whether the 3-second footage was used for research purposes in the current issue, Vethichelvan says that Nayanthara can present her arguments as a documentary about herself.

He also says that he can point out that it was used for a short time of 3 seconds.

– This is a Collective Newsroom publication for the BBC

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