Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are a subclass of wireless ad hoc networks, having amazing qualities of dynamic network topology and moving nodes. As MANET changes its topology, routing is difficult at some moment. Routing protocol controls the stream of information and selects the efficient way to transmit the data. There are a variety of routing protocols existing in MANET. Accordingly, this paper presents the multicast routing protocol, named cuckoo search and M-tree-based multicast ad hoc on-demand distance vector (CS-MAODV) protocol for MANET. The proposed routing protocol includes a two-step process, namely, M-tree construction and optimal multicast route selection. Here, the divisional-based cluster (DIVC) technique is used for building the M-tree using three constraints: destination flag, path-inclusion factor, and multifactor. Then, cuckoo search algorithm is used for selecting the optimal route by considering the multiple objectives, such as energy, link lifetime, distance, and delay. The performance of the proposed multicast routing protocol is analyzed, and the comparative analysis is performed with the existing routing protocols, such as MAODV, QoS-based multicast routing protocol using reliable neighbor nodes selection (QMRPRNS), efficient fuzzybased multiconstraint protocol (EFMMRP), and energy-efficient lifetime aware multicast route selection (EELAM). From the simulation results, it can be shown that the proposed CS-MAODV protocol attains the maximum energy of 90.3513%, LLT of 158.7708 s, the throughput of 86.2226%, and PDR of 87.1606, respectively. Also, the proposed protocol has the minimum control overhead of 2.1415% and PDD of 0.0563 s.