In one of the most pivotal moments in the sensational Malayalam survival thriller Manjummel Boys, a flashback cuts to a close-up of actor Soubin Shahir. And just like that, the crowd in a packed screen in Chennai erupts cheerfully. Over the last decade, Soubin has established himself as a star performer in Malayalam. However, a sporadic Malayalam cinema viewer from Tamil Nadu might only know him as the guy who acted in Sudani from Nigeria, Kumbalangi Nights and last year’s blockbuster Romancham. So, what makes a fan from Tamil Nadu welcome the actor like they welcome a Tamil superstar? The truth seems to be that the Tamil audiences have found a star in Manjummel Boys, but it isn’t Soubin or Sreenath Bhasi; it’s the film itself. And those who are applauding Soubin are what theatre owners call a ‘repeat audience’ who know the journey that awaits Soubin’s character in the film.
Almost a month since it was released in theatres, director Chidambaram’s Manjummel Boys continues to have a dream run in Tamil Nadu.
According to theatre sources, though films of Malayalam superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal have historically pulled reasonable crowds to select few theatres in the city, the craze post 2015’s blockbuster Premam ushered a new wave of Malayalam cinema viewers in Tamil Nadu. “But Malayalam films still get played only in multiplexes usually. And even if they get played on single screens, it’s the Tamil-dubbed version,” says Vishnu Kamal, owner of Kamala Cinemas, Chennai. This is the first of many norms that Manjummel Boys has broken in its historical run: thanks to good word-of-mouth promotions, the film started screening even in single-screen theatres in the city from the second week of its release. “The film has been running extremely well since then and we have sold over 36,000 tickets in the two weeks since we started playing, which is huge for a Malayalam film; in fact, Manjummel Boys is the film that has saved theatres this March,” adds Vishnu.
That’s not all. Filmmaker Halitha Shameem says that though she anticipated the film to do well in cities, “the kind of response the film would end up receiving even in interior Tamil Nadu is surely surprising. I only thought it’d do well in cities, towns and the film festival circuit”. Halitha is right about the reality in southern Tamil Nadu. Srither S, joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Theatre Association, says he was shocked to see the response to the film from interior Tamil Nadu. “A decade or so ago, when a Malayalam film releases, only a handful of centres like Tiruchi, Chennai and Coimbatore used to play them. But never in my life have I seen a non-dubbed Malayalam film being played in places like Thiruvarur, Aranthangi, Ariyalur, Perambalur, and Jeyamkondan.” According to Srither, Manjummel Boys has earned a share of Rs 12 crore from Tamil Nadu.
Produced by Soubin’s Parava Films, the film crossed the Rs 100-crore mark at the global box office earlier this month — the fastest to do so in Malayalam — and it is currently the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, with global collections inching towards Rs 200 crores.
So, what made Manjummel Boys such a phenomenon in Tamil Nadu?
Kamal Haasan and Roshini in a still from ‘Gunaa’
Based on a real-life incident that transpired in 2005, Manjummel Boys tells the story of how a vacation to Kodaikanal became a nightmare for a bunch of friends from Kochi when one of them unexpectedly fell into a crevice in the Guna Caves, a location infamous for several deaths and one that got the name after Kamal Haasan’s 1991 film Gunaa was shot there. If you have followed social media closely, the most pivotal aspect that catapulted the film to fame would seem obvious: the use of the famous ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ song from Gunaa.
Halitha, however, feels it would be shallow to just credit ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ for the success of the film. She agrees that of late there have been attempts like in Jailer (“Taal”) and Leo (“Karu Karu Karupayi”) to use classic soundtracks to bank on their nostalgic value or to re-introduce them to a new generation of audiences. “But is that enough? If so, Leo should have got exceptional reviews. Manjummel Boys is exceptional craft-wise,” says Halitha.
From the survival thriller’s atmospheric treatment to the visual and practical effects and performances, one too many things impress you. “For instance, look at how they’ve shown the cave in the dream of Subhash’s character and how it appears in real; the cave that appears in his dream is how we all would imagine a cave thanks to movies. And because they couldn’t explore all the characters due to time restrictions, they had to explore Subhash’s character and how they did it using flashback is fascinating,” says Halitha, adding that centring the film only on the survival aspect without unnecessary deviations was a major plus.
A still from ‘Manjummel Boys | Photo Credit: Think Music India/YouTube
Now where ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ undeniably seems to take credit is how it adds a certain ‘Tamil connection’ to the film, which according to Vishnu, makes things easier to appeal to audiences. “Much of the second half is in Tamil because it takes place in Kodaikanal so people can connect beyond the language barrier.” Ruban, the owner of GK Cinemas, Chennai, says that a Malayalam film need not have Tamil for it to taste success here. “If that’s the case, then 2018 and Pulimurugan wouldn’t have tasted any success in Tamil Nadu,” he explains. But he agrees that such a connect can be a good bonus and cites Guna and ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ as the reasons why Manjummel Boys is enjoying more success in Tamil Nadu than in Karnataka or the two Telugu states.
How being ‘a boys film on friendship’ helped the film’s run:
Being a ‘boys’ film about a bunch of boys choosing friendship over everything else also seems to have worked in Manjummel Boys’ favour. Ruban, for instance, says that much of the bookings in his theatre being bulk bookings made by friends support this. Historically, films like Boys, Chennai 28, and Saroja have worked in Tamil and the lack of such films in recent years might also be a reason, says Halitha.
“Even last year we got Romancham in Malayalam and Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare in Kannada; such films have a vibe to them,” she explains. Vishnu says that thanks to the effect of Manjummel Boys, fans have been asking him to re-release Venkat Prabhu’s Chennai 28.
A still from ‘Manjummel Boys’ | Photo Credit: Think Music India/YouTube
How the release window and lack of good Tamil star films helped ‘Manjummel Boys’
Coincidence or strategy, the release window that Manjummel Boys had locked is doing wonders for the film at the box office. For one, these months have historically been considered a dry period, especially when there’s an election, high school board examinations and the Indian Premier League keeping audiences busy. “But Manjummel Boys has proved that all seasons work if the content is good,” says Ruban.
What also seems to have worked in its favour is the long drought of good commercial films in Tamil to pull crowds to the theatre. As Srither points out, after Vijay’s Leo, which was released in October last year, none of the Tamil films have managed to taste considerable success in theatres. “The theatre business is purely profit-motivated and so if any film that is cleared by the censor boardwould work for the audiences, we are ready to screen them,” says Srither.
Even after its release, there has not been a Tamil release that has come even close to challenging Manjummel Boys in its run. “If a big star film like Vijay’s The Greatest of All Time or Rajinikanth’s Vettaiyan or Ajith Kumar’s Vidaa Muyarchi had been released alongside Manjummel Boys, the collections would have split; but that is not the case,” says Vishnu. “So, as of now, this takes the top spot among films that have come out this year,” adds Ruban.
Will this boost the popularity of Malayalam cinema in Tamil Nadu?
Now, is the success of Manjummel Boys in Tamil Nadu a one-off situation, or would it do what Premam did in 2015? “I believe that like how Premam urged people to watch more of Malayalam cinema, Manjummel Boys will introduce Malayalam cinema to a larger section of audiences,” says Halitha. But Ruban and Sridhar disagree. “2016’s Pulimurugan was the biggest hit from Malayalam here, and only 2018 managed to surpass that. So, producers in Malayalam cannot expect the same kind of reception for all the films,” says Ruban. Srither cites how even hit Malayalam films that were released around the same time, Premalu and Bramayugam, did not do well in these centres.
But then, who expected a film like this would shatter all box office records and norms? Perhaps, manidhar unardhukolla idhu manidha kaadhal alla.
