Nayanthara-Dhanush Dispute: Are morals there to preach to others but not to practice?

Just days before the release of her documentary feature, ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale’ on Netflix, Nayanthara dropped an open letter targeting the actor Dhanush for not allowing her and the makers of the documentary to use songs, visual cuts, photographs, music and lyrics from the Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, a film which was produced by Dhanush under his banner, Wunderbar Films with Vijay Sethupathi & Nayanthara in lead roles and Vignesh Shivan as the director.

It was during the shoot of ‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’ in 2015, that Nayanthara & Vignesh Shivan are believed to have fallen in love with each other and ended up marrying eventually in 2022. 

She called Dhanush a tyrant, a product of nepotism, etc. in her letter and questioned his moral integrity. But the question here is, does Nayanthara qualify to question anyone’s moral integrity? Isn’t it wrong that Nayanthara & team used the BTS video that was shot on the film’s set, in the trailer of the documentary feature that was released a few days ago, even after Dhanush denied NOC (No Objection Certificate) to her and her team to use any of the intellectual property related to the film? 

Nayanthara over the years never attended promotional events of her films that were produced by others but always goes above and beyond in promoting the films that are produced by her. By taking advantage of her demand and craze among the audience, she always signs a film only if the producer agrees to not expect her to attend any promotional events. With no other option, producers agrees to all her demands and get her onboard.

This is nothing but demand and supply and there is nothing wrong with it legally but morally is it right? Being a star actress, isn’t she supposed to be empathetic & supportive towards her producers and help them in every possible way to promote films? If she feels that she doesn’t need to promote her films and the audience will flock to theatres just by seeing her photo on the poster of a film, why does she aggressively promote the films produced by her by attending all the promotional events? 

How can she expect others, in this case, Dhanush, to consider her request based on moral grounds and let her use the intellectual property of the film? How can she expect others to follow morals when she herself does not adhere to morals? Are morals there to preach to others but not to practice? Using any intellectual property, even if it is a BTS (Behind The Scenes) video that was shot on the sets of a film, without the permission of the producer is an offence legally and there’s nothing wrong in Dhanush sending a legal notice  for using a few seconds of his intellectual property without his permission. 

The letter from Nayanthara triggered a huge controversy. The fans and folks from the industry are now eagerly waiting to see if Dhanush come up with a counter or to continue proceeding legally. Meanwhile, the one hour and twenty-two minute, documentary feature, ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale’ is coming to Netflix on Monday, 18th November.