Dhanush's production house, Wunderbar Films, has initiated legal proceedings against Nayanthara, her filmmaker spouse Vignesh Sivan, and their production company Rowdy Pictures, besides two others. The dispute centres around the inclusion of a three-second clip from the 2015 film Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in the Netflix documentary Nayanthara: Beyond Fairytale.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Nayanthara's legal representative, Rahul Dhawan, Managing Partner at Lex Chambers, clarified that they have formally responded to Dhanush's legal notice. Dhawan asserted that no copyright laws were breached in the utilisation of the footage.
"We respond that there is no infringement or violation because what has been utilised by us in the docu-series is not part of behind-the-scenes (from the film). The same is part of personal library, Therefore this is not infringement."
The controversy erupted when Nayanthara publicly alleged that Dhanush put pressure on her and kept her from using clips from Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in her documentary. She claimed that after removing all footage from the documentary, Dhanush issued a legal notice asking for Rs 10 crore for the use of a mere three seconds of behind-the-scenes footage. In response to her letter, Dhanush's legal team issued a statement urging the actor to remove the social media post.
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)