Tamil star Rajinikanth has several projects in his kitty. The most anticipated one is his collaboration with Lokesh Kanagaraj, titled Coolie. Recently, the makers of the movie released its action-packed teaser. Composed by Anirudh, the teaser had Ilaiyaraaja’s track Va Va Pakkam Va. The music was recreated for the movie’s title teaser. Now, the music maestro has sent the movie makers a legal notice.
Ilaiyaraaja sends legal notice to Rajinikanth’s Coolie makers
According to Times Of India, Ilaiyaraaja has sent a legal copyright notice to the makers of Coolie for using the track Va Va Pakkam Va from the 1983 movie Thanga Magan without prior permission. The legal notice also mentioned that Ilaiyaraaja, who composed the original song, is also its owner and no formal permission was taken from him.
Using a track without formal permission is an office under the Copyright Act of 1957.
The legal notice did not end there, as it allegedly accused Lokesh Kanagaraj. The notice claimed this was not the first time the director had used Ilaiyaraaja’s owned track for his movie. He had used the track Vikram Vikram from the 1986 movie in the Kamal Haasan starrer without permission. Moreover, the music maestro’s song, En Jodi Manja Kuruvi, is in his debut directorial Fight Club.
The notice asked the makers of the movie to seek official permission from the maestro to use the track. If not, then the notice has asked to remove the song from Coolie’s title announcement teaser.
Reportedly, Ilaiayraaja has sent a similar notice to several other composers for using his tracks without official permission. In 2017, SP Balasubrahmanyam, his son SP Charan, and KS Chithra received a notice for performing the maestro’s song without permission.
Meanwhile, no official statement from the team of Coolie has come out yet.
