Ilaiyaraaja. File | Photo credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Mythri Movie Makers, producers of Ajith Kumar starrer Good Bad Ugly and Pradeep Ranganathan starrer Dude, have struck a compromise with acclaimed musician R. Ilaiyaraaja over the use of his old songs in two films this year. A compromise was reached to pay ₹50 lakh to the composer as “commercial settlement and gratitude”.
A joint memorandum of compromise filed on Wednesday (Dec 3, 2025) before Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said the Hyderabad-based production company has already paid ₹ 50 lakh to Mr. Ilaiyaraaja through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) after deducting 10% taxes deducted at source for two other old Ug songs, three of its tracks (TDS) in ‘Ty Dude’.
Terms of compromise
The parties also agreed that the two songs used in ‘Dude’ will continue to be featured in the film, which is currently streaming over the top (OTT), but the producers will drop the use of three other songs in ‘Good Bad Ugly’ in the future. However, the money was paid to the composer for using the three songs until the court issued a preliminary injunction on September 8 this year.
Mr. Ilaiyaraaja also agreed to make a public statement regarding the compromise reached between him and the production company. The musician, represented by senior counsel S. Prabakaran, had initially filed a civil suit against the production house for using three songs he had composed between 1982 and 1996 for three different Tamil films in “Good Bad Ugly” without obtaining his consent.
Dispute
The court was told that Mythri Movie Makers used the Tamil song Otha Ruba Tharen from the 1996 film Nattupura Pattu starring actor Sivakumar, the song Ilamai Idho Idho from Kamal Haasan’s 1982 starrer Sakalakala Vallavan and the song En Jodi Manja Kuruvi from the film 198 which also starred Mr. consent to commercial use of these songs in ‘Good Bad Ugly.’
He subsequently filed another suit complaining that the production company seems to be in the habit of misusing his songs and has again used two re-used songs — Nooru varusham from the 1990 Rajinikaanth-starerr Panakan and Karuthha machan from the Sukanya-starrerr pudhu nell pudhu naathu’ — in the latest film ‘Dude.’
The court issued an injunction in favor of Mr. Ilaiyaraaj in the second dispute as well. Now, however, the Joint Memorandum of Compromise stated that the parties intended to settle the dispute amicably and that both civil suits could be heard under the Memorandum of Compromise.
Published – 03 Dec 2025 17:07 IST
