The copyright dispute between legendary music composer Ilayaraja and the makers of the blockbuster movie ‘Manjummel Boys’, for using the song ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ in the film, has been settled. After mediations, the producers of Manjummel Boys reportedly gave a compensation of Rs 60 lakh to Ilayaraja.
Ilayaraja had sued the makers of the movie demanding Rs 2 crore as compensation stating that his song played a pivotal role in the massive success of the film and that the latter hadn’t sought his permission to use the song. The musical legend had sent legal notices in May, alleging copyright violation. Meanwhile, the makers of ‘Manummel Boys’ claimed that they had acquired the film's musical rights. However, Ilayaraja refused to accept this.
‘Kanmani Anbodu’ is a beautiful melody composed by Ilayaraja for the Kamal Haasan starrer ‘Guna’ directed by Santana Bharati and released in 1991. The song was used in ‘Manjummel Boys’ directed by Chidambaram, making it a super hit in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Besides, the dubbed versions of the movie were released in Tamil and Telugu too. ‘Manjummel Boys’ completed a dream run of 73 days in the theatres before beginning to stream on an OTT platform from May 5 onwards. As per the reports, ‘Manjummel Boys’ had collected Rs 242.3 crore globally, making it one of the biggest hits in recent times.