Delhi court rules Ilaiyaraaja has no rights over En Iniya Pon Nilave song recording
The Delhi High Court has ruled that music composer Ilaiyaraaja does not own the copyright to the lyrics or the original sound recording of the Tamil hit song En Iniya Pon Nilave.
The court said that while Ilaiyaraaja composed the tune, the rights to the recorded song belong to the film producer and were later legally transferred to Saregama India Limited.
According to Bar and Bench, the ruling came during a dispute over the recreated version of the song in the 2025 film Aghathiyaa.
A Bench of Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla dismissed Ilaiyaraaja’s appeal and upheld an earlier order passed by the High Court.
In simple terms, the court clarified that a composer owns the musical composition or tune, but not automatically the lyrics or the final sound recording used in a film.
The court noted that En Iniya Pon Nilave was originally part of the 1980 Tamil film Moodu Pani, produced by Raja Cine Arts. According to the court, the producer had legally transferred the rights of the film’s songs to Saregama through an agreement signed in 1980.
The legal battle began in January 2025 when Saregama approached the court against Vels Films International over the planned recreated version of the song in Aghathiyaa.
The original version of the song was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and sung by K J Yesudas. For Aghathiyaa, the recreated track was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and sung by Vijay Yesudas.
Saregama argued that it owned the rights to all songs from Moodu Pani, including En Iniya Pon Nilave. The company told the court that despite issuing a legal notice, the recreated version was promoted online and uploaded on streaming platforms.
Vels Films, meanwhile, argued that it had taken permission from Ilaiyaraaja, believing he had the authority to license the recreation of the song as its original composer. Ilaiyaraaja also maintained that he owned the musical work and could allow others to adapt it.
However, the court disagreed. An earlier single-judge Bench led by Justice Mini Pushkarna had already observed that Ilaiyaraaja was the composer of the song, not the lyricist, and therefore could not claim rights over the lyrics or the complete sound recording.
The court also rejected the argument that amendments made to India’s Copyright Act in 2012 could be applied retrospectively to give Ilaiyaraaja additional rights over songs composed decades earlier.
Since Aghathiyaa was set for release on January 31, 2025, the court had initially allowed the recreated song to be used if Vels Films deposited Rs 30 lakh as a licence fee. However, the production house later informed the court that it would release the film without the song after being unable to deposit the amount.