Veteran music composer Ilaiyaraja has issued a legal notice to the producers of the Malayalam blockbuster film Manjummel Boys for using the song “Kanmani Anbodu” from the 1991 Tamil movie Gunaa without his permission. The director of Manjummel Boys, Chidambaram, shared a snippet of the news on Instagram along with another Tamil song, “Malarnthum Malaratha,” composed by T.M. Soundararajan from the film Pasamalar.
Ilaiyaraja claims that simply acknowledging him in the title cards does not suffice as permission or a license for the usage of his work. He accused the producers of commercial exploitation, alleging they were attracting viewership and publicity through improper means. He emphasized that he holds absolute rights, including moral rights, over all his original musical works.
Through his counsel, Ilaiyaraja demanded that the film producers either obtain his permission or remove the song from the movie and pay compensation within 15 days. The notice warned of legal action against producers Soubin Shahir, Babu Shahir, and Shawn Antony if they do not comply with either of the two options.
Ilaiyaraja’s claim to his musical works has been reinforced by previous court rulings. In 2015, the Madras High Court issued an injunction against four music labels from monetizing Ilaiyaraja’s musical works. In 2019, the court recognized his special moral rights over 4,500 songs he composed for over 1,000 movies between the 1970s and 1990s. However, a recent bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq held that while Ilaiyaraja is a renowned music composer, he cannot be considered above everyone else.
In 2020, the Indian Record Manufacturing Company Ltd (INRECO) claimed complete copyright ownership of Ilaiyaraja’s musical works and sound recordings in about 30 films, citing written agreements with the film producers. Ilaiyaraja contended that digital rights, which came into existence after 1996, cannot be claimed by INRECO and that his copyright cannot be overridden by the film’s producer. The court ruled that when a song is part of a film, the producer holds rights to its ownership. Ilaiyaraja challenged this ruling in 2022, seeking a stay on the order that permanently restrained him from claiming copyright.
Manjummel Boys, which has taken the Kerala and Tamil Nadu box offices by storm, became the first Malayalam film to collect Rs 200 crore at the box office within just 26 days of its release. The movie celebrates male camaraderie, portraying a group of young men from a lower-middle-class background taking a trip to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. Kamal Haasan’s voice, echoing through the caves, and the original song composed by Ilaiyaraja are played multiple times during the film, reaching its most emotional impact in the climax.
It is noteworthy that Kamal Haasan, who starred in Gunaa, met with the entire cast and crew of Manjummel Boys after its release and congratulated them on their success. Despite this, the legal battle over the song’s use highlights ongoing tensions over copyright and the rights of creators in the film industry.
