Actor Dhanush sues Nayanthara before Madras High Court

Actor Dhanush K. Raja’s Wunderbar Films Private Limited has filed a civil suit in the Madras High Court against actor Nayanthara Kurian, her director-husband Vignesh Sivan, her Rowdy Pictures Private Limited, and two others for having used certain visuals related to Tamil movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in a Netflix docu-drama titled Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale.

Actor Dhanush K. Raja’s Wunderbar Films Private Limited has filed a civil suit in the Madras High Court against actor Nayanthara Kurian, her director-husband Vignesh Sivan, her Rowdy Pictures Private Limited, and two others for having used certain visuals related to Tamil movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in a Netflix docu-drama titled Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale.

Since Los Gatos Production Services India LLP, an entity through which Netflix reports its content investments in India, was based in Mumbai, Wunderbar Films has taken out an application urging the High Court to grant leave (permission), under clause 12 of the Letters Patent, to sue the company too, along with the others, within the territorial jurisdiction of the Madras High Court.

The application, filed through advocates Gautam S. Raman and Maithreyi Canthaswamy Sharma, was listed for hearing before Justice Abdul Quddhose on Wednesday (November 27, 2024). Senior counsel P.S. Raman, representing the applicant, urged the judge to grant leave, but senior counsel Sathish Parasaran and R. Parthasarathy, representing Ms. Nayanthara and Netflix, opposed the same.

After hearing the preliminary arguments advanced by both sides, the judge allowed the application to grant leave, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the main case and after taking note that Ms. Nayanthara, Mr. Sivan, and Rowdy Pictures were located within the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court and a major part of the cause of action had arisen over here.

The dispute between Mr. Dhanush and Ms. Nayanthara had become public days before the release of the docu-drama on November 18. The actress had addressed an open letter to Mr. Dhanush on November 16 and posted it on her X handle.

The letter stated that she had sought a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from Wunderbar Films, the producers of the movie Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, to use some of the songs, visual cuts, and photographs in her docu-drama as it was during the shoot of that movie that her and Mr. Sivan’s love blossomed. She accused Mr. Dhanush of not having issued the NOC even after two years of repeated requests.

Accusing Mr. Dhanush of harbouring personal grudge against her and her husband, Ms. Nayanthara also said, she was shocked to receive a legal notice from him seeking damages of ₹10 crore after the release of docu-drama’s trailer in which, according to her, just three seconds of behind-the-scenes visuals shot using personal devices during the shoot of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan had been used.