Malayalam cinema is undoubtedly having a moment in the sun. In 2024, two movies devoid of bankable stars like Mammootty, Mohanlal, or Prithviraj are enjoying a bullish run at the UAE box office. On the heels of the young slice-of-life film, ‘Premalu’, comes another stirring friendship saga-slash-survival thriller ‘Manjummel Boys’, which has already seen over 184,000 total admissions since its release two weeks ago. No big stars, just content that grips you from the word go makes the buddy, male-bonding film ‘Manjummel Boys’ stand out from the rest of the heap. Just to put things in perspective, Hollywood’s magnificent star-led sci-fi saga ‘Dune: Part 2’, starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya crossed over 54,000 admissions in its first week of release in the UAE, while MB has already doubled that figure.
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/the-secret-behind-malayalam-blockbuster-manjummel-boys-success-decoded-no-stars-just-great-content-1.101474150
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/the-secret-behind-malayalam-blockbuster-manjummel-boys-success-decoded-no-stars-just-great-content-1.101474150
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#UAEnews #ManjummelBoys #India
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NewsTranscript
00:00What I love about this film is like it's a friendship saga, but without the frills.
00:04I mean, it's as realistic as it gets.
00:09Good afternoon, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News. I'm the entertainment editor.
00:14And today I'm here with the review of Malayalam language film called Manjumal Boys.
00:18It stars Reenat Basi and Saubin, along with an eclectic set of very talented actors.
00:24It's a survival thriller directed by Chidambaram and it's playing in the UAE cinemas right now.
00:29What I love about this film is like it's a friendship saga, but without the frills.
00:34I mean, it's as realistic as it gets.
00:36And it's also it morphs into a survival drama,
00:39where one of the friends played by Sreenath Basi gets trapped in a hole
00:45when they travel to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu for a boys trip.
00:48What I loved about this film is the way in which the entire
00:53true life incident has been made into a film.
00:57All these friends have such a good bro code between them.
01:01I mean, they're not very wealthy.
01:02They come from very, very middle class upbringing.
01:06They hustle for a living.
01:07But at the same time, their excitement to be on a boys trip and how things get a bit of
01:13out of hand, how they're just excited to see the location where Kamal Hassan,
01:18the legendary Tamil actor, shot his movie called Guna, which was a massive hit.
01:23It's almost an homage to that movie.
01:25It starts off with one of the songs from that film.
01:28And you can see that Chidambaram has really been inspired by that film,
01:32which was shot in that cave.
01:34So these bunch of boys go and explore this cave.
01:36The boys get a bit excited and they go into a restricted part of the area.
01:40Trouble, bruise.
01:41When one of them played by Sreenath Basi goes into a hole,
01:44the friends get together to save their dear friend.
01:48What happens is that the mates who don't get much help from the police,
01:51from the local police in Tamil Nadu,
01:53or the forest officials, they take it upon themselves to actually save their mate.
01:58It is one of the most stirring films that I've seen in Malayalam cinema of late.
02:04I mean, I've seen movies like Premaloo, which was amazing.
02:06A small movie with great production values, good acting, etc.
02:10Similarly, this one as well, the Manumal Boys as well, is one of the well-made movies.
02:15I mean, it just touches you.
02:16What I loved about this film is that it's very realistic.
02:19Even the boys, boys don't seem like they belong to another universe.
02:23Their emotions, their fear when they realize that they have really screwed up,
02:29the kind of angst that they feel when they realize,
02:31the kind of survivor's guilt that they feel when they realize that they put their friend,
02:36their friend is in danger, there's nothing they can do, how do they help, etc.
02:40Those emotions are beautifully brought about.
02:42And the movie moves at a very rapid pace.
02:44The first few scenes, especially the first one, are you have to be patient,
02:50where you are drawn into their worlds, where, you know, the actor Saubin,
02:55who plays the most matured one of the lot, the leader of the gang,
03:00draws all of these boys together into a trip to Kodaikanal.
03:04They don't have much money, etc.
03:05And that's what makes this film very appealing.
03:08It's very grounded in reality.
03:10Nobody is a larger-than-life hero.
03:12Everybody is just trying to help their friend out.
03:15In fact, Saubin at one point, his character, which is based on a real-life incident,
03:19there is a real-life hero who goes down into the hole
03:22because none of the trained professionals want to go down.
03:25They're scared that this hole kind of is like demonic.
03:30You know, it's like a curse curve.
03:32They're scared that they won't be brought back alive.
03:35Therefore, none of the officials actually go into the hole, but the friend does.
03:39This movie is a great ode to friendship.
03:41It's also a great ode to how, you know,
03:44when push comes to shove, your friends actually come through.
03:48It's one of the most stirring films.
03:49And as far as performances go,
03:52I really thought Saubin and Srinath Basi had my heart.
03:55I mean, the parts in which where he's just broken,
03:57he's almost dead in that cave,
03:59those scenes really, like, speak to you.
04:02I remember watching a recent Fahad Fazal movie called Malayangunya,
04:06which was a survival thriller, which did not touch you,
04:09which did not, which seemed very, very synthetic.
04:11But here is a movie that's really warm.
04:13It's about friendship.
04:14It's about survival of the fittest, I suppose.
04:17And how your friends come together, the bandy together to help you out.
04:22I've gone with 3.5 out of 5.
04:24For our full review, go to gulfnews.com.