Producers of Ajith Kumar-starrer Good Bad Ugly urge Madras High Court to vacate injunction in favour of Ilaiyaraaja

Producers of Ajith Kumar-starrer Good Bad Ugly (GBU) have urged the Madras High Court to vacate an interim injunction granted by it on September 8, 2025, restraining the production firm from exhibiting, screening, selling, distributing, publishing, or broadcasting the movie on any platform along with three songs composed by acclaimed musician R. Ilaiyaraaja for other movies between 1982 and 1996.

Justice N. Senthilkumar on Wednesday (September 17, 2025) granted time till September 24 for A. Saravanan, counsel for the musician, to file a counter affidavit to the vacate injunction petition filed by Telangana-based Mythri Movie Makers which had produced GBU. The judge had granted the ex-parte injunction last week after observing that the production firm had given a “bald” reply to the legal notice issued to it by the composer.

However, senior counsel P.S. Raman, representing the production firm, told the judge that the interim injunction had caused great harm as Netflix had to take down the movie from its platform. He also told the judge that removing the three songs from the movie was not an easy task as any change made to it would have to be run through the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for a fresh censor certificate.

The senior counsel also contended that the producers had used all three songs -- Otha Ruba Tharen from the 1996 movie Nattupura Pattu featuringactor Sivakumar, Ilamai Idho Idho from Kamal Haasan-starrer 1982 flick Sakalakala Vallavan, and En Jodi Manja Kuruvi from the 1986 movie Vikram, also starring Mr. Haasan -- only after obtaining necessary rights from the music companies that hold the copyright.

Contending that Mr. Ilaiyaraaja only holds moral rights over those songs composed by him on receipt of adequate remuneration, Mr. Raman wondered how he could approach the High Court and obtain an interim injunction without there being any urgency and that too, after the movie had completed its run in cinema theatres and was being played on the OTT (Over the Top) platform Netflix.

The senior counsel also told Justice Senthilkumar that the production house had actually filed a caveat before the High Court on April 28, 2025, in order to prevent Mr. Ilaiyaraaja from obtaining an ex-parte interim order against the release of the movie. The caveat expired on July 25, 2025. The composer had waited for the caveat to expire and then filed the suit to obtain an ex-parte interim injunction, he said.

After hearing him as well as senior counsel P.V. Balasubramanian, the judge granted a week’s time for Mr. Ilaiyaraaja to file his counter affidavit to the plea for vacating the interim injunction.