Start the week with a film: Why ‘Manjummel Boys’ was a blockbuster
Chidambaram’s celebrated Malayalam movie is out on Disney+ Hotstar
This year’s Malayalam blockbuster Manjummel Boys is finally accessible to a wider viewership. Chidambaram’s movie, which deftly combines the survival thriller with the male buddy drama, is out on Disney+ Hotstar.
Manjummel Boys is based on a real-life incident from 2006. The film centres on a group of nine men in Kochi who have known each other since they were children.
Long-term friendship is the single-most important factor that prevents the gang from abandoning Subhash when he slips into a pit in a cave. Convinced that Subhash is alive despite having fallen hundreds of feet, the friends maintain a vigil and then participate in a rescue operation that seems destined to fail.
Malayalam cinema is often celebrated outside the state for elevating formulaic plots. By creating memorable characters, paying close attention to milieu-setting and relying on naturalistic performances, mainstream Malayalam productions make slice-of-life stories appear extraordinary.
All these factors are at play in Manjummel Boys. Chidambaram’s screenplay takes elements that might have been exaggerated or glamourised elsewhere – in Telugu or Hindi cinema, for instance – to create a wholly plausible account of courage in impossible circumstances.
The characters are from ordinary backgrounds who can barely afford a vacation. The performances lack showboating (also a stellar quality of Malayalam cinema). The magnificent cave set created...
