Madras HC Junks Netflix's Plea In Dhanush's Suit Against Nayanthara Documentary

The Madras High Court has dismissed applications filed by Netflix's Indian entity, Los Gatos, which sought to reject the plaint filed by Dhanush's production company, Wunderbar, in a case concerning alleged copyright infringement involving Nayanthara, Vignesh Sivan, and others.

Justice Abdul Quddhose further informed the parties that he would hear the interim injunction application submitted by Wunderbar on 5th February 2025.

Dhanush, producer of the film 'Naanum Rowdy Dhaan', approached the court alleging that behind-the-scenes footage from the film had been used without authorisation in the making of Nayanthara's documentary 'Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale'.

As Netflix India's office is located in Mumbai, beyond the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court, Dhanush sought and was granted leave to sue the company in the High Court.

Netflix India sought to revoke this leave, arguing that under the provisions of the Copyright Act and the Letters Patent Act, leave must be obtained for suing any defendant or for addressing any part of the cause of action arising outside the court's jurisdiction.

It was contended that the plaintiff had obtained leave to sue only the fifth defendant (Los Gatos - Netflix India) because of its location outside the court's jurisdiction, and had failed to obtain leave against all other defendants.

Netflix further argued that a photograph of Nayanthara and Vignesh Sivan from the film's set was uploaded in 2020, yet no action was taken by the plaintiff at the time.

They noted that the plaint was filed only a week after the release of the documentary, demonstrating a lack of urgency to bypass the pre-suit mediation requirement under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act. Consequently, they contended that the plaint should be dismissed for non-compliance with Section 12A.

Conversely, Senior Advocate PS Raman, representing Dhanush, argued that anything occurring on the film set belonged to the financier of the project, in this case, the plaintiff.

He maintained that all material from the film set constituted a "bundle of copyrights" owned by the producer, which could not be used without consent.

Raman emphasised that the cause of action arose only when copyright infringement occurred, namely the unauthorised use of behind-the-scenes footage in the documentary.

He explained that the plaintiff had sent a desist email to the defendants as soon as the trailer was released and only filed the suit after the documentary's release, when the extent of the footage used became evident.

He also highlighted that Nayanthara had signed a contract, for valuable consideration, agreeing that her appearance in costume and hairstyle for the film would constitute the producer's copyright.

Thus, it was argued that any material connected to Nayanthara's work on the film belonged to Dhanush as the producer.