Overview

• The Madras High Court recorded Vanitha Film Productions’ removal of Ilaiyaraaja’s name from Instagram and other promotional platforms on July 23.
• Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy granted Ilaiyaraaja until August 18 to correct his suit’s cause title and formally include Sony Music Entertainment as a defendant.
• The composer’s interim applications seeking to remove the song “Sivarathri” from the film and bar the movie’s distribution with the track remain pending before the court.
• Producers told the court they had secured rights to “Sivarathri Thookam Edhu” from Echo Recording Company and urged that Sony Music be joined to address licensing ownership.
• The case underscores tensions over personality rights and the reuse of Ilaiyaraaja’s iconic 1990 compositions in Tamil cinema promotions.