Music director Ramesh Narayan is once again at the centre of controversy, this time for allegedly insulting actor Asif Ali during the trailer launch of the anthology film "Manorathangal," based on the stories of acclaimed writer MT Vasudevan Nair.

Narayan has been involved in controversies before. Previously, he accused actor Prithviraj of insulting him during the release of the film "Ennu Ninte Moideen." The issue arose when the 2016 state award for Best Singer went to P Jayachandran and the Best Music Director award went to Ramesh Narayan. Narayan claimed that this award was a rebuttal to Prithviraj, alleging that three of his six composed songs were omitted from the film on Prithviraj's instructions. Only "Sharadambaram" was used in the movie, for which both Jayachandran and Narayan received accolades.

The latest incident occurred at the trailer launch ceremony of "Manorathangal" in Kochi. During the event, Asif Ali was invited to present a memento to Ramesh Narayan. However, it is alleged that Narayan refused to accept the award from Ali, instead calling director Jayaraj to the stage to take the memento from Ali and then handing it to Jayaraj before accepting it himself. This act has sparked significant backlash on social media.

"Manorathangal" is set to release on Zee5 on August 15 and features a star-studded cast including Mammootty, Mohanlal, Asif Ali, Fahadh Faasil, Biju Menon, Indrajith Sukumaran, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Vineeth, Surabhi Lakshmi, and Anne Augustine.