Ilaiyaraaja issues legal notice to Manjummel Boys team: 'Remove the song Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan or...'

Ilaiyaraaja wants Manjummel Boys makers to either obtain his permission to use the song Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan in their movie or to remove it from the film.

Manjummel Boys, starring Soubin Shahir and Sreenath Bhasi, was released in February 2024. The Malayalam film has landed in legal trouble as renowned Tamil music composer Ilaiyaraaja has issued a legal notice over the unauthorised use of his song, Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan from the Tamil movie Guna (1991), in Manjummel Boys, reported The Hindu.

A still from Manjummel Boys featuring Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi S Poduval, Lal Jr, Deepak Parambol and others.

Ilaiyaraaja vs Manjummel Boys makers

According to the report, Ilaiyaraaja accused the makers of Manjummel Boys of having 'unlawfully' exploited the song Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan, featuring Kamal Haasan, in their movie without obtaining his ‘consent, permission or licence’.

The notice issued through Ilaiyaraaja's counsel reportedly said that the song was composed by him. Though the makers of Manjummel Boys had recognised this fact in the title cards, 'the same or any underlying gesture cannot be a substitute for our client’s permission/licence/content for such usage,' the notice read.

Choose either of the two options

Since the musical work had been exploited commercially without authorisation and payment of royalty or licence fee to Ilaiyaraaja, his legal team called upon Manjummel Boys's producers to either obtain the composer’s permission or remove the musical work forthwith from their movie, besides paying compensation for unauthorised usage.

The notice reportedly also warned that appropriate civil and criminal proceedings would be instituted against the film’s producers, Soubhin Shahir, Babu Shahir, and Shawn Antony, if they failed to exercise either of the two options.

About Manjummel Boys

Manjummel Boys is a survival drama that follows the story of a group of 11 friends from Kerala planning a trip to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. Their trip takes a turn, when one of the friends falls into a pit inside the Guna Caves, which is named after Kamal Haasan's 1991 film of the same title. Manjummel Boys then shows how the other friends battle against all odds to save their friend.