Music legend Ilaiyaraaja shot a legal notice to the makers of the blockbuster Malayalam film, Manjummel Boys, citing 'unauthorised use' of his iconic song Kanmani Anbodu, that originally featured in Kamal Haasan's Gunaa. While the audience lauded the makers for the use of the song at a crucial point in the film, looks like it did not go down well with Ilaiyaraaja.
Ilaiyaraaja has now slapped a copyright infringement suit on the makers and has asked them to seek proper permission from him if they wish to continue using the song in the film.
The music maestro claimed that he held all "legal, moral and special rights" over the song Kanmani Anbodu. "Our client reserves the right to initiate appropriate legal actions for such improper and unauthorized usage of the song in the said cinematographic film, which is his original musical work," the legal notice read.
Earlier, a journalist too had claimed that the makers of Manjummel Boys used the Gunaa track without Ilaiyaraaja's consent, but he later backtracked on his complaint.
Manjummel Boys released in February and it emerged to be one of the highest grossing films of the Malayalam industry this year. The survival thriller stars Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi S. Poduval, Lal Jr., Deepak Parambol, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Khalid Rahman and Shebin Benson in key roles.
Based on a real life incident from 2006, the film tells the story of a group of friends, who embark on trip to Kodaikanal but their life turns upside down when one of them gets trapped in the Guna caves.