Madras High Court orders Ilaiyaraaja to add Sony Music in copyright dispute with Ajith Kumar's Good Bad Ugly, ‘ultimate sufferers are music lovers’

Ilaiyaraaja has filed a case against producers of Good Bad Ugly

Music composer Ilaiyaraaja is currently in the middle of a legal battle with the producers of Ajith Kumar-starrer Good Bad Ugly (GBU) for using three of his old songs in the movie without his consent. However, he has recently received a major update.

The Madras High Court has ordered Ilaiyaraaja to name Sony Music as one of the respondents to a civil suit he has filed.

According to The Hindu, Justice N. Senthilkumar believed that Sony Music needed to be imposed, considering the Telangana-based production company Mythri Movie Makers had claimed to have acquired the rights to use one of the songs, En Jodi Manja Kuruvi, from the 1986 Kamal Haasan film Vikram.

The judge has recently granted a petition for permission to use the song ‘Otha Ruba Tharen’ in Good Bad Ugly. Music Master Audio Video LLP had bought the song's rights from the producers of the 1996 film Nattupura Pattu, which starred Sivakumar, approximately thirty years prior.

After considering all arguments, the judge made the decision to hold another hearing on October 16 and asked the attorney to update him on the most recent decisions regarding copyright for musical compositions.

The judge has also suggested, “In the fight between all of you, the ultimate sufferers are the music lovers.”

The judge previously suggested that a lawyer for yet another record label had informed the court that his client would also submit an impleading petition, claiming that it was the owner of the rights to the third song, Ilamai Idho Idho, from the 1982 movie Sakalakala Vallavan, which also starred Kamal Haasan.

In addition to extending an interim injunction, the court had previously prohibited Mythri Movie Makers from exhibiting, screening, selling, distributing, publishing, or broadcasting GBU on any platform with the three controversial songs on September 9, 2025.

The judge has now ordered the High Court Registry to list the suit next on October 16.

Also Read: Ilayaraja sends legal notice to Good Bad Ugly makers for using songs without permission

The musician’s advocate, A. Saravanan, resisted the plea to revoke the injunction, despite senior counsel P.V. Balasubramaniam, who was representing the production company, insisting that Ilaiyaraaja had not produced any documentation proving he had retained the copyright for the three songs.

The attorney had also informed the court that GBU had been temporarily removed from Netflix following the court’s interim injunction, but that it had since returned to the over-the-top service after substituting other songs for the three controversial ones. He asserted that there was no pressing need to lift the temporary injunction.