Madras High Court orders immediate removal of two Ilaiyaraaja songs from Dude

The Madras High Court has ordered the makers of Tamil blockbuster film Dude to take down two songs by music great Ilaiyaraaja right away since they were used without permission and changed from the originals. The production company's request for a week to follow the instructions was turned down.

The next hearing will be on January 7, and the court told the film's team to prepare a detailed response to Ilaiyaraaja's petition. The judge said throughout the trial that the "sanctity" of the music had been broken, which made the copyright breach seem much worse.

Why "Dude" Is in Trouble with the Law
Pradeep Ranganathan's Dude has been doing well in theaters since its Diwali release, but it has suddenly reached a wall since it uses two well-known old songs.

The movie has new renditions of "Karthu Machaan" from Pudhu Nellu Pudu Naathu and "100 Varusham Indha Mappilaikku" from Panakkaran. Ilaiyaraaja wrote both songs. Ilaiyaraaja's petition says that these songs were included without his permission and asks that they be taken out of all versions of the movie.

Ilaiyaraaja's team says the makers broke copyright law. Reports say that the composer's lawyers said that the songs were changed and utilized in a way that broke copyright regulations.

They said they owned all the music and pointed out that "Echo," which apparently controls the rights, had already stopped them from letting them be used. On the other hand, the people who made Dude said they had gotten the appropriate permits from Sony, which they said had gotten the rights from Echo. The court looked into this more closely because of the contradicting assertions.

The court said that the essence of the original songs was changed. The judge first asked what harm using tunes that are decades old may do to the composer during the hearing. The court, on the other hand, decided that the altered versions of the music for Dude had lost their spirit and essence after looking into the subject more.

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The judge ordered them immediate removal because of this observation. The judge also pointed out that the complaint came too late, after the movie had already come out in theaters and on OTT. This has led to a lot of talk and controversy on social media.