Film maker Shankar has got into trouble with music composer Ilayaraja for an alleged copyright infringement.
The maestro has sent a legal notice to Shankar for remixing his composition "Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandu" song in the film "Kappal", produced by Shankar and released on 29 December.
"Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandu" song originally belongs to the 1980 film "Karagaattakkaaran", which starred Ramarajan and Kanaka in the lead. Ilayaraja claims that Shankar has committed an infringement of the copyright law by remixing the song without his permission.
Shankar, who is busy with his latest movie "I", has not yet responded to Ilayaraja's claims.
Apparently, Shankar entererd into an agreement with a company called Agi Music Pvt Ltd to acquire the licence to remix the song, but Ilayarajas' legal advisor has contended that Agi Music has nothing to do with the song.
"My client says Agi Music Pvt Ltd has no ownership or publishing rights in respect of the song. The Madras High Court has granted an interim injection restraining Agi Music Pvt Ltd and others from exploiting the musical works of my client for thousands of films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada , including Karagaattakkaaran," said Ragunathan to The Hindu.
Ragunathan added that Shankar has to pay for the royalty for the song and make sure he does not use the song in his film, failing which the director might have to face criminal or civil proceedings from the court.
"Kappal" is scripted and directed by Karthik G Krish, who had assisted Shankar in Rajinikanth starrer "Enthiran" and "Sivaji". The movie is a comedy entertainer and stars Vaibhav, Sonam Bajwa, Karunakaran, VTV Ganesh, Arjunan, Venkat Sundar and Karthik Priyadarshan.
The music for the film has been composed by Natarajan Shankaran.
Ilayaraja's move has come as a surprise to many as the news of the song being remixed was out much earlier.
