Dhanush Nayanthara: Nayanthara even wrote an open letter to Dhanush after the latter had sued her for defamation. The legal battle stems from the use of footage in Nayanthara’s documentary, ‘Nayanthara: one called ‘Beyond The FairyTale,’ which Dhanush claims violates his constitutional right as the producer of the earlier film called ‘Naanum Rowdy’.
The Real story behind Dhanush Nayanthara 10 Crore Lawsuit
Actress Nayanthara has written an open letter to Dhanush after the latter sued her for 10 crores over her documentary ‘Nayanthara: Beyond The FairyTale’. But, what really went wrong between Nayanthara and Dhanush or was there anything wrong at all between these two superstars?
Industry tracker and trade analyst Ramesh Bala, who has been analysing the South industry for years, explained to ETimes why Nayanthara had to pen an open letter to Dhanush.
He said, “The actor Dhanush had produced a movie which was titled as “Naanum Rowdy” directed by Vignesh Shivan and the heroine of the movie was Nayanthara”. During the shoot of this very film, Vignesh and Nayanthara were to fall in love with each other and subsequently marry.
Producer Dhanush was in athoughs that the budget of the film had gone off track. Bala joined in saying: “Towards the end of the shooting he did not avail the finances to accomplish the film. Nayanthara spared her hard earned money for the film for the sake of love for her lover Vignesh Shivan.”
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The documentary on Nayanthara was planned to release on her birthday, November 18, Beyond The Fairytale. Bala said, “Around 10 years later when Nayanthara wanted to make her wedding documentary and since this film had love songs and there were some behind the scene moments clicked, she decided to go ahead.” She requested Dhanush to give him a NOC for its usage which was denied by him.”
The actress patiently had to wait for two years for him to issue the NOC and even threatened the south industry as well, Dhanush did not budge. In Bala’s words, “It was only after that they decided to change the title of the documentary as Beyond The Fairytale and since they could not use the footage a three second clip shot on Nayantara’s mobile was used in the trailer of the documentary and Dhanush has sued her for that three second clip”.
When asked why the separation was so huge, Bala replied, “The actual reasons were Overshoot of the budget and creative differences.” There were a couple of times where Nayanthara mocked Dhanush after receiving an award for the same picture looking at him and telling ‘My producer does not like my acting.’
Nayanthara in her open letter on Instagram called Dhanush’s legal action as an ‘all-time low’. In the post she said, “We were startled to read those lines where you questioned the use of some videos (just 3 seconds) which were shot on our personal devices and that too BTS visuals that are very much already exist publicly on social media and demanded a claim of sum of Rs 10 crores for merely 3 seconds.
This is the lowest I’ve seen you act and boy does this speak volume about you and your character. I wish you were half the person you pretend to be on stage during audio launches in front of your ignorant fans but trust me you don’t live up to your words at least where I ‘n’ my partner are concerned.”
On the other hand, the several actors like Parvathy Thiruvothu, Nazriya, Aishwarya Lekshmi and others have reacted supporting Nayanthara’s post.
Nayanthara feels guilty for ‘dragging’ Vignesh Shivan into relationship
Kollywood actor Nayanthara, when asked what would have happened if she had not met her husband Vignesh Shivan, director. She claimed he is trolled by fans for being married to her and proceeded to explain why no one should care that they are not equal in terms of career success.
Nayanthara and Vignesh’s relationship was commemorated in the recent Netflix documentary Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale. The couple also faced a lot of criticism when they spokes against actor-filmmaker Dhanush for not allowing them to get NOC for the documentary.
During an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter India, Nayanthara also spelt out details of their marriage and added that sometimes they regret to take the big step of being in a relationship. I always feel guilty. Even today I feel guilty. We started this relationship I did not drag him into it but I was the initiator.
If not for me, he would have been let on his own, to speak the truth as he wanted to. They would have embraced him for the director he is for the writer he is for the lyricist he is for the human he is. He’s such a kind soul. So to be compared with him I can only think, ‘I’m a good person, I know that, but I don’t know if I can be as good as him.’
Nayanthara said that though she and her husband have a lot of love and respect for each other, their relationship sometimes comes with ‘use of hatred’. She went on to say, “All of us believe that in case one is successful, it is mandatory for him or her to marry another successful person. But it’s love that you’re choosing.” “You’re not choosing success. You’re not choosing money and luxury – in-fact, it is the utter opposite, for this lifestyle means the constant threat of death. Of course that is not how it is calculated at all. In other words, young people get married, get married.”
She said they are partners who have an ‘unconditional love’, which means they do not have to ‘give and take’ in the relationship. She continued, “He joined much later than me, and I am a student in my senior year” What people people are angry is probably because perhaps the last movie he did is not a blockbuster, or one is far from the other. It’s definitely because I am overly successful, or at least he is an established television personality and I need to establish myself and he’s still (finding his place). I feel it’s so unfair to compare me and him.”
Nayanthara has been in a relationship with Vignesh Shivn for more than seven years, in late 2022 the couple got married. In February 2022, they adopted twin boys, Uyir, and Ulag through surrogacy.
The Three-Second Controversy: Legal Implications
Here some people may ask, why is a three seconds video so significant?
The problem started when the actress got a legal notice from Dhanush after the trailer launch of the documentary on November 16, 2024, seeking Rs 10 crore damages for using the three-second behind the scenes footage of filming recorded and forwarded by the actress on her personal phone without her consent after shooting the video.
The purported video has some connection to the 2015 Film, which her boyfriend Vignesh Shivan directed and Dhanush, Hansika’s partner, produced under his production company, Wunderbar Films. In the letter, Nayanthara has said that Dhanush never gave her the NOC for using the visuals, songs, lyrics and photographs of the said film along with the photographs taken during their candid moments together, for the making of the documentary despite they fought for the same for two years.
She, and much more vehemently blustered Dhanush for drawing pennons of vanity and personal insult rather than genuine legal grievance.
Earlier this month on November 27, the Madras High Court allowed civil suit against Nayanthara, her partner Vignesh Shivan and Netflix and along with this it allowed a suit for permanent injunction restraining the defendants from using any visuals or anything for that matter which invades the copyright in the Film.
The defendants have argued that this video was not supported by Wunderbar Films and was personal. But the plaintiffs have refuted it saying they assigned some people to do so, and the video was uploaded to their YouTube channel in year 2015.
