Manjummel Boys - where boys will be/remain boys : A review

Manjummel Boys is a survival cave-rescue movie based on a real life rescue event that happened at Guna Caves (previously called Devil's Kitchen) near Kodaikanal in the Western Ghats region of south India in 2006. 

This is another one of those pan south-Indian movies (other recent ones I have reviewed in this category are Premalu and Aavesham) responding to the possibilities of profit-making through streaming  and OTT platforms where a movie needs to transcend, meta-relate, hyperlink across language and regional barriers. Bilingual characters, diverse locations across the country,  a supporting cast of regional actors from the area where the story takes place and other regional influences baked into the narrative are strategies to grab more eyeballs and box-office bucks. Setting this movie in Kodaikanal will also help boost the Tamilnadu tourism industry. Nothing wrong with making products people want.

To attract Tamil moviegoers and strike box office gold, Manjummel Boys frequently references the 1991 Tamil film Gunaa and its music, specifically the song sequence filmed at the Devil's Kitchen cave system featuring the legendary Kamal Haasan. After Gunaa's release, the cave acquired a unique identity, being renamed as the Guna Caves, setting it apart from the countless rock caverns across the globe  all going by the name of devil's kitchen. This devil dude might be quite a chef, had a kitchen at every port of call. 

Manjummel Boys also belong to my 'favorite' emerging genre in Malayalam, which I call the MCMs or Man Child Movies in this blog. In the real life incident which served as the inspiration for Manjummel Boys, it is actually a group of young boys from Manjummel between the ages of 17 and 21 who go on a tourist expedition to Guna caves and one of them slips and falls down a deep crevasse. They have the excuse of their under-developed pre-frontal cortex for the risky decisions they might have made.

the real Manjummel boys

But what is the excuse for the men in this movie where all the actors who play the 'boys' look like 30+ year old men who have not really grown up and are still displaying the antics of teenage boys. This is one place the director should have curbed his creative liberty and recruited some real youngsters, instead of Soubin Shahir, a decent actor, but looks forty.  To me Manjummel Boys is a literal man-child movie filled with men-children.

A targeted social media blitzkrieg in the days immediately after the  film's release must have paid off. The S.Indian social media frenzy over this movie could have very well been generated in bot farms in the wilds of Asiatic continent. That is the only reason I can think of why Manjummel Boys became a hit beyond compare. It is an okay movie, but there are survival movies that have been told better  including Thirteen Lives, Castaway, Society of the Snow, The 33 etc. Considering that language and geography are no barriers in this streaming global media landscape, where movie-makers has easy access to inspiration without much perspiration, this movie could have been  made better. 

The script is practically non-existent, and character development is sorely lacking. The characters' dynamics and relationships are left largely to guesswork. The current theater-going audience in Kerala seems to be mostly Gen Z and younger millennials. This realization makes me feel like a fossil in a world where anyone over 40 is considered a 'boomer.' Therefore please take note that this review comes from someone a couple of generations removed. Manjummel Boys appears to be a movie tailored for the TikTok/Instagram reels generation, whose attention spans are challenged by coherent scripts. In fact, the director Chidambaram S. Poduval's previous film, Jan.e.man, was more relatable.

But let me not rain on Manjummel Boys' parade entirely. The movie deserves praise for its strong technical execution, particularly the cinematography, production design, and sound work. Recreating the cavernous underworld of Guna caves, complete with vertigo-inducing visual effects of a bone-rattling plummet into the craggy depths is expertly crafted. 

If there's one scene that elevates the film, it's the portrayal of that pivotal fall - the turning point of the story. The way it casually unfolds onscreen with creativity and nuance is quite impressive. It catches the viewer a bit off-guard, highlighting the creative brilliance of the director.If only he had recruited some young teen Youtube stars or Insta-influencers, instead of thirty plus year old men to play boys.......