Ilaiyaraaja sends notice to makers of ‘Coolie’

CHENNAI: Alleging commercial exploitation his creative work without obtaining prior permission in the teaser of the upcoming film, ‘Coolie’, ace music composer Ilaiyaraaja sent legal notice to the producers, Sun Pictures. The notice added that director Logesh Kanagaraj was doing this intentionally and repeatedly.

According to the notice, Ilaiyaraaja was shocked to learn that the song he had composed, ‘Va Va Pakkam Va’, from ‘Thangamagan’ (1983) starring Rajinikanth, was used in the teaser of ‘Coolie’. This was done without getting his permission or paying royalty, it said.

This was an instance of willful infringement of the Copyright Act, 1957, which protects and guarantees the rights of the original music composer, said the notice. Pertinently, such original musical work cannot be altered, modified and distorted without the consent of the original composer and payment of due consideration for such modifications, it added. The legal notice also named ‘Coolie’ director Lokesh Kanagaraj, and said he has been repeatedly and intentionally indulging in unauthorised exploitation or usage of Ilaiyaraaja’s musical work in his films. Earlier, Logesh had used Ilaiyaraaja’s composition for the song ‘Vikram Vikram’ from the film Vikram (1986) in Vikram-2 (both starring Kamal Haasan), and the song ‘En Jodi Manja Kuruvi’ from the same film in his recently produced film ‘Fight Club’, said the notice.

In the notice, the composer asked Sun Pictures to obtain proper permission or consent from Ilaiyaraaja for using the distorted version of his song ‘Va Va Pakkam Va’ in ‘Coolie’ or remove it from the film, failing which he would initiate legal actions.