The Delhi High Court has ruled that composer Ilaiyaraaja does not own the copyright to the lyrics or the original sound recording of the Tamil hit song. n iniya pon nilave. The court said that when Ilaiyaraaja had composed the tune, the rights to the recorded song belonged to the film producer and were later legally transferred to Saregama India Limited.

according to bar and benchThe decision came amid the controversy over the recreated version of the song in the 2025 film Aghathiya.

Ilaiyaraaja vs Saregama

A bench of Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla dismissed Ilaiyaraaja’s appeal and upheld the 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 final sound recording used in a film.

The court noted that n iniya pon nilave Originally part of the 1980 Tamil film mudu waterProduced 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 court against Wells Films International over the planned remade version of the song in Agathiya.

The original version of the song was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and sung by KJ Yesudas. For AghathiyaThe recreated track was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and sung by Vijay Yesudas.

Saregama argued that it had the rights to all the songs mudu waterInvolved n iniya pon nilave. The company told the court that despite issuing a legal notice, the remastered version was promoted online and uploaded on streaming platforms.

Meanwhile, Wells Films argued that it had taken permission from Ilaiyaraaja, believing that he had the rights to license the recreation of the song as the original composer. Ilaiyaraaja also said that he owned the musical work and could allow others to adopt it.

Ilaiyaraaja has no copyright on the song

However, the court did not agree. A single-judge bench led by Justice Mini Pushkarna had earlier observed that Ilaiyaraaja was the composer of the song, not the lyricist, and hence could not claim rights over the song or the entire sound recording.

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The court also rejected the argument that amendments made to India’s Copyright Act in 2012 could be applied retroactively to give Ilaiyaraaja additional rights over songs composed decades ago.

since Aghathiya Scheduled for release on January 31, 2025, the court had initially given permission to use the recreated song if Wells Films deposited Rs 30 lakh as license fee. However, later the production house informed the court that due to its inability to deposit the amount, it would release the film without the songs.

Ilaiyaraaja had separately challenged the court’s previous observation that he did not have copyright on the sound recording. The Division Bench has now dismissed that appeal, with the High Court reaffirming that the rights to the lyrics and the original recording n iniya pon nilave Stay with Saregama, not with the musician.