Award-winning music composer Ilaiyaraaja faces legal trouble after the Delhi High Court recently restrained him from exploiting sound recordings and musical works whose rights belonged to music company Saregama India Limited.
According to an ex-parte ad-interim injunction passed on February 13, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela declared that the music company would face irreparable losses if Ilaiyaraaja were not stopped from using the sound recordings.
The legal order placed on the veteran music composer, who is famed for producing hit songs like Raja Raja Chozhan, En Iniya Pon Nilave, and Andhiyile Vaanam—among numerous others across various languages—will impact music from as many as 134 films he was involved in, as per a Bar and Bench report on Monday.
"Defendant [Ilaiyaraaja] ... are restrained from exploiting/ using/issuing licenses for the plaintiff’s [Saregama's] Copyrighted Works i.e. the sound recordings and literary and musical works forming a part of the said Cinematograph Films enlisted in Annexure A appended to this Order or making any claim of ownership to the third parties or issuing any license for exploitation in relation to the plaintiff’s Copyrighted Works,” the Court ordered.
This comes after the music company approached the Delhi HC arguing that in the 1976-2001 period, it entered into "assignment agreements" with the producers of a number of cinematograph films.
"Under these agreements, the copyright in the sound recordings as well as the underlying musical and literary works vested exclusively in the company on a worldwide and perpetual basis," the report added.
However, Saregama alleged that Ilaiyaraaja's actions in early February 2026—uploading and authorising the use of several of these works on digital streaming platforms, and also asserting ownership over them—was in violation of those agreements.
Also citing a legal notice in which he claimed ownership of some of those songs, the counsel for Saregama argued that under the Copyright Act of 1957 and Supreme Court orders, a film producer was the first owner of a copyright in works commissioned for a cinematograph film, unless there was a contract that said otherwise.
Ilaiyaraaja and Saregama have previously clashed in court over the use of the song En Iniya Pon Nilave for a film named Aghathiyaa, which released on February 28 last year.
Notably, the Delhi HC had first ruled that Vels Film International Limited, the producers of Aghathiyaa, could not use the song without licensing from Saregama, which held the copyright for the song in its original appearance—in the film Moodu Pani.
It later allowed Vels Film to use the song, as the makers had already invested a lot of money into the film at the time, but said that they had to deposit Rs 30 lakh with the Registrar General of the Court.
