Ilaiyaraaja Sends Legal Notice To Manjummel Boys Makers Over Use Of His Song

Ilaiyaraaja has demanded compensation within 15 days.

Musical maestro Ilaiyaaraja is known to be quite irked with the unauthorised use of his songs Just last month, he sent a legal notice to the makers of Rajinikanth’s upcoming film Coolie for using a segment of the song Vaa Vaa Pakkam Vaa in the teaser of the film. While this case has not been resolved yet, the musician has now filed a copyright infringement complaint against the Malayalam film Manjummel Boys, which collected more than Rs 200 crore at the box office.

Ilaiyaaraja claimed that the song Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan, which he composed for the film Guna, has been used in Manjummel Boys without his consent. Illayaraaja claimed that he is the original composer of the song and stated that it is a well-settled position of law that the Copyright Act, 1957, protects and guarantees the rights of the author or musical composer/producer and does not permit the unauthorised, improper, and unintended usage of any of the original musical work.

Ilaiyaraaja stated that even though he is the original owner of the song Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan, the makers of Manjummel Boys are using his work without proper permission. They are employing the song as promotional material on various platforms to commercially benefit themselves and attract viewership and publicity through improper means.

Ilaiyaraaja has demanded compensation within 15 days. He has made it clear that either permission should be sought or the song should be dropped. If the compensation is not paid within 15 days, legal action will be taken, the lawyer said in the notice.

It is interesting to note that the makers of Manjummel Boys used the song to draw a connection between the film and the movie Guna which was released in 1991. The original song was shot near a set of caves in Kodaikanal, which later came to be known as the Guna caves. Manjummel Boys centres around the misadventures of a group of friends at the Guna caves.