T. Rajhentherr moves Madras HC alleging copyright infringement of songs composed for Uyir Ulla Varai Usha

Popular filmmaker T. Rajhentherr and his wife Usha Rajhentherr have filed a joint civil suit before the Madras High Court alleging infrigement of their copyright over the songs of his 1983 blockbuster movie Uyir Ulla Varai Usha starring himself, Saritha, and Nalini, among others.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Monday (March 30, 2026) granted time till April 20, 2026, to AVM Productions (AVM audio division) and WL Epic Media Private Limited, formerly known as Kosmic Music Private Limited, to respond to the plea for interim orders.

Mr. Rajhentherr had written the script and screenplay, directed, acted, composed songs, and penned the lyrics, too, for Uyir Ulla Varai Usha, which turned out to be a box-office hit, leading to its remake in Kannada and Hindi, besides being dubbed in Telugu as Prema Sagaram.

The movie had popular songs such as ‘Vaigai karai kaatre nillu, vanji thanai paarthaa sollu’, sung by K.J. Yesudas, ‘Indiralogathu sundari rathiri kanavinil vanthaalo’, sung by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, and ‘Unnaithane azhaithen, urangaamal thavithen,’ sung by S. Janaki.

Produced by Thanjai Cine arts, owned by Ms. Rajhentherr, in 1983, the film was re-released in February 2026 by Simbu Cine Arts. It was only during the digital re-release that the couple learnt the audio rights of the movie had changed multiple hands and were being exploited commercially in various streaming platforms.

Hence, they chose to file the suit now, jointly in their capacities as the producer of the film and also as the music composer. Their counsel K. Thyagarajan contended that so far, no royalty whatsoever had been paid either to the film producer or the music composer by WL Epic Media.

In their suit, the couple sought a permanent injunction restraining AVM as well as WL Epic Media or any of their partners, sister concerns, licencees, or assignees from commercially exploiting the songs composed and penned by Mr. Rajhentherr for Uyir Ulla Varai Usha.

They also sought a mandatory injunction seeking a direction to the defendants, their licencees as well as assignees to immediately take down the songs from all forms of media where they were being commercially exploited without the authorisation of the plaintiffs.

Further, the plaintiffs sought a decree for rendition of accounts and insisted the defendants must be directed to disclose the profits and gains derived by them through alleged unauthorised commercial exploitation of the songs and also to pay costs incurred for filing the suit.

Along with their main suit for alleged copyright infringement, the plaintiffs had also filed an application seeking an interim injunction restraining the defendants from continuing to exploit the songs commercially on various platforms until the disposal of the main suit.