Ilaiyaraaja

Ilaiyaraaja (born 1943) is one of the most prolific composers in the history of cinema, having scored well over a thousand films and helped define the sound of Tamil and wider Indian music for half a century. Nominated to the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house, he carries both cultural and political weight.

Guarding a voice

In 2025 Ilaiyaraaja moved the Madras High Court to protect his personality and publicity rights, arguing that YouTube channels and social accounts were using AI-generated videos, morphed images, and deepfake-style clips to fabricate his endorsements and distort his likeness for advertising revenue. The court granted interim protection, restraining unauthorised use of his name, image, and identifiable attributes.

For an artist whose signature is a distinctive musical voice, AI voice cloning is a particular threat — a synthetic Ilaiyaraaja could compose or “sing” things he never touched. His suit is part of a wave of Indian personality-rights litigation, alongside cases brought by figures such as Pawan Kalyan, that is defining how far the law will go to protect identity from generative imitation.