Aday after actor-filmmaker Dhanush filed a civil lawsuit against actor Nayanthara and others, alleging copyright infringement, her lawyer has refuted the claim. On Wednesday, Dhanush had initiated legal proceedings against Nayanthara; her husband, filmmaker Vignesh Sivan; their production house, Rowdy Pictures Private Limited, and two others over the use of a three-second footage from his production Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015) in their OTT docu-drama Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairytale.

In an exclusive conversation with us, Rahul Dhawan, who is representing Nayanthara, Sivan and their production house, says, “There is no infringement or violation because what has been utilised by us is not part of the BTS [from the film]. It is part of personal library.” He added that they have formally responded to Dhanush’s legal notice. The next hearing in the case is expected to be on Monday.

Amid the ongoing feud, Nayanthara shared a cryptic post on her Instagram story on Friday. It read: “When you destroy someone’s life with lies, take it as a loan, it will come back to you with interest.”

The Dhanush-Nayanthara stand-off started on November 16, when she posted an open letter on Instagram, accusing Dhanush of stopping her from using footage from Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in her documentary. In response, Dhanush’s lawyer issued a statement directing Nayanthara to take down the Instagram post.

The dispute began when Nayanthara, in an Instagram post, accused Dhanush of pressuring her and blocking her from using footage from their 2015 film Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in her documentary. According to Nayanthara, after editing the documentary to exclude any clips from the film, Dhanush allegedly sent her a legal notice demanding ₹10 crore for using just three seconds of behind-the-scenes footage.