Manjummel Boys Movie Review

What Is It About?
A group of friends from the town named Manjummel decide to go on a trip to Kodaikanal when they get jealous by seeing their rival group go on a trip to Munnaar. They will have a great time in Kodaikanal as everyone does. Things turn bad when they decide to explore a Cave called GUNA CAVE where the famous song, “Kanmani Anbodu kadhalan” (Tamil version of “Priyathama Neevachata Kushalama”) of Kamal Hassan’s Guna was Shot. Did the trip end well for them? Watch and find out!

Performances:

Sreenath Bhasi delivers a Splendid Act as Subhash. His performance stands out especially in the second half where the audience literally feels the pain through the screens. Shoubin Shahir does a great job accompanied by his group of boys. We get to see the recent famous George Maryan and some other Tamil actors doing a decent job in the space that has been provided for them. The child actors who played the younger Versions of Sreenath and Shoubin need special mention.

Technicalities:

Among all the crafts, the cinematography by Shyju Khalid stands out. The film demands a great effort in the visuals where the audience has to feel the suffocation and tension and he contributed brilliantly for the same. The film also has great production design, which supports the imagery to a large extent. Music by Sushin Shyam blends well with the superbly done sound design. The edit of the film maintains a very good pace that keeps the audience sitting tight. Makeup for Sreenath Bhasi, especially in the second half deserves an applause.

Thumbs Up:

Great Visuals
Good performances

Analysis:

The film Kicks off with Kanmani Anbodu Kadhalan where the Director,Chidambaram, hints us about his special interest in Kamal Hassan. The tribute gets special when he uses the same song as a payoff in one of the high moments in the second half instead of Background score which we usually see in films of such kind. The game of Tug of war between the two rival groups of Manjummel, which feels like another filler stuff at the beginning, gives a good high when it’s used in the latter part of the film. There’s a strong reason for everything established in the first 20 minutes, which works brilliantly when recalled at the end.

The smart screenplay choices such as revealing the childhood portions later and match cutting them with the present works really well which brings style to the treatment of this film. If introduced at the beginning, there’s also a strong space for more exploration of characters in depth.

Life is all about survival of the fittest, and Manjummel Boys is one of the fittest survival thrillers ever to come out from Malayalam Cinema.

Bottomline: A Seat Edge Survival Thriller