Nayanthara is sued by actor Dhanush in the Madras High Court.

The usage of "Naanum Rowdy Dhaan" imagery in the Netflix documentary "Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale" is the subject of the argument.

Actor Nayanthara Kurian, her director-husband Vignesh Sivan, her Rowdy Pictures Private Limited, and two other people are the targets of a civil suit brought by actor Dhanush K. Raja's Wunderbar Films Private Limited in the Madras High Court for using specific images from the Tamil film Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in the Netflix documentary Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale.

Under clause 12 of the Letters Patent, Wunderbar Films has filed an application asking the High Court to grant leave (permission) to sue Los Gatos Production Services India LLP, an organization that Netflix uses to report its content investments in India, along with the others, within the Madras High Court's territorial jurisdiction because the company was based in Mumbai.

Advocates Gautam S. Raman and Maithreyi Canthaswamy Sharma filed the application, which was scheduled for hearing before Justice Abdul Quddhose on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. The petitioner, represented by senior counsel P.S. Raman, asked the judge to grant leave, but Ms. Nayanthara and Netflix, represented by senior counsel Sathish Parasaran and R. Parthasarathy, objected.

Without voicing an opinion on the merits of the main case, the judge granted leave after hearing the preliminary arguments put forth by both parties. The judge also noted that a significant portion of the cause of action had arisen over here and that Ms. Nayanthara, Mr. Sivan, and Rowdy Pictures were located within the Madras High Court's jurisdiction.

What's at issue?
Days prior to the docu-drama's November 18 premiere, the conflict between Mr. Dhanush and Ms. Nayanthara had come to light. On November 16, the actress released an open message to Mr. Dhanush on her X account.

The letter claimed that because her and Mr. Sivan's love bloomed during the filming of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, she had applied for a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from Wunderbar Films, the film's producers, to utilize some of the songs, visual cuts, and images in her docu-drama. Despite repeated requests over the course of two years, she accused Mr. Dhanush of failing to give the NOC.

Ms. Nayanthara accused Mr. Dhanush of harboring personal animosity toward her and her husband. She also claimed that she was taken aback when he sent her a lawsuit requesting ₹10 crore in damages following the release of the docu-drama's trailer, in which she claimed that only three seconds of behind-the-scenes footage taken with personal devices during the Naanum Rowdy Dhaan filming had been used.