Nayanthara reveals the reason behind writing a fierce open letter to Dhanush

After sending a fiery open letter to her ex-colleague and producer Dhanush regarding his legal action over a clip from his 2015 film in her recent Netflix India documentary, Nayanthara opted for silence. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Nayanthara elaborated on her decisions and reasoning.

“Courage only comes from the truth. I only have to be scared when I’m fabricating something. If I’m not doing that, I don’t have to be scared. If I didn’t speak out now, when things had already gone too far, I don’t think anyone would have the courage to stand up for themselves ever again,” Nayanthara said. “Why should I be scared of doing something which I feel is right? I should be scared only if I’m doing something wrong. I’m not someone who would want to tarnish someone’s image just for the sake of publicity,” she added.

Nayanthara clarified that her open letter to Dhanush wasn't meant as a publicity stunt for her documentary. She emphasized that "Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale" is more about understanding a person beyond their public image, regardless of the film's success. She mentioned that she only sought four lines from the movie "Naanum Rowdy Dhaan," directed by her now-husband Vignesh Shivan and produced by Dhanush's Wunderbar Films, to capture the essence of their life, love, and family.

Further she added, “There were number of calls that Vignesh had made to (Dhanush’s) manager, we reached out to a lot friends, who are friends with him. But none of that worked. Then it came to a point that we did not want to use the clips. Both of us thought that it’s okay for him to not give the NOC because it’s his rights. It’s his film. He has all the rights to say use these clips or don’t use these clips. We went past that whole thing. We just wanted to use four lines that Vignesh had wrote in the film. That was very personal to us. So that’s the only thing we wanted in the documentary. For which we really, really tried. Those four lines would sum up our life and our love. That’s why it was so important for us to have those four lines and that’s what we were trying to get."

She further explained, “I am not someone who usually likes to call someone or disturb them to ask them for a help or any kind of obligation. But I thought it is very important for the documentary we were doing and I genuinely thought he would be the first person to say okay to it because he’s been a friend. It’s not that we were born enemies, we’ve always been really, really good friends. I don’t know where and how it all changed over the past 10 years. I don’t want to get into that, he might have his own reasons, I might have my own reasons, but I got to that point where I actually spoke to the manager, which I usually don’t."

“I just wanted to have a conversation with him to understand what is the problem, why are you so angry with us, or are you really angry with us, or is it something that people around you are creating or if there is any sort of misunderstanding, can we clear it? We don’t have to be the best of friends but can we clear it out so that when we see each other somewhere someday, we can greet each other. This is what I exactly wanted and I really tried," the actress said.

The drama between Nayanthara and Dhanush sparked when the actress posted an open letter accusing the actor of filing a Rs 10 Cr lawsuit against her documentary, Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairytale, over footage from Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.