Hitting all the right notes with Manjummel Boys
Five years ago, I watched the Telugu movie C/o Kancharapalem (Maha Venkatesh, 2018) thanks to Shubhra Gupta who arranged a screening via the Indian Express Film Club at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre. It was the last time a movie made me smile so wide.
I’ve watched several movies since, but none have left the cinema lover in me as delighted, as happy, as thrilled. Until now.
Manjummel Boys, the Malayalam movie released this year, uses Valli’s words from the Tamil movie Gunaa (Santhana Bharathi, 1991) at pivotal moments throughout, making it more than just a thrilling survival story for me. The song alone must not be credited for the love the movie has received. It is the ‘how’ that attracts you, and stays with you.
The viewer knows what will transpire even before the movie begins. A bunch of friends from Manjummel in Kerala drive to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu for a short vacation. As they gambol about Guna caves, one of them falls deep inside a hidden crevice. The young men shouldn’t have entered that restricted area in the first place. But of course they did. And of course they rescued their friend, refusing to budge till they successfully pulled him out. And most certainly the state police (annoyed with the ‘tourists’ at first), the fire department, and the sympathetic locals put in all their efforts.
This is a simple story of the indomitable human spirit. People rightfully recommend watching it in the theaters. I will also recommend that you watch it with company, even if you find solace in solitude. That experience is something you might not want to miss out on. It’s quite incredible that a Malayalam movie is being watched in its original version, i.e., without being dubbed in another language and has received so much love and warmth from those who don’t understand Malayalam at all, running to nearly packed cinema halls even weeks after its release.
It always takes a village, and they weave wonders. As was witnessed in the last scene of C/o Kancharapalem when the train passes by and you see an entire village rally behind Raju — fending off imminent danger. It was a sight to behold.
It again took a village in Manjummel Boys — Kuttan’s crucial role in entering the deep crevice to pull Subhash out; the entire band of boys using their acquired and practiced skills from their regular tug-of-war matches in perfect symphony. You knew tug-of-war would come in handy when in the beginning of the movie, the real Manjummel boys appear onscreen and defeat the reel ones. The latter didn’t loosen their grip in time before tightening it again and lost. But when they had to pull Subhash out, they knew better.
One feels deeply for Subhash, and his trauma of being stuck in the far depths of the cave, bloodied and injured. The faint light he sees when his eyes finally open are reminiscent of an earlier conversation he had had with a friend — equating God with light (hat tip to a friend for helping me make the connection).
And because everyone is entitled to an opinion, some have said that the movie is not worth the hype; some others have said the fall was impractical and Subhash would have fallen like this or like that. Sure, maybe they are all correct. But at a time when garbage and mediocrity like Animal, Pushpa, Tejas, Adipurush, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, The Kerala Story and similar trash is regularly churned out and a lot of it is massively appreciated and justified because, “Come on! It’s just a movie” or “So-and-so is a phenomenal performer”, tends to fly, it is extremely refreshing to see something as simple and heartening as Manjummel Boys.
We need more of such beauty because, “Manithar unarndha kolla, idhu manitha kaadhal alla/ Adhaiyum thaandi punithamaanathu” (This is not mortal love for humans to understand/ this is beyond that, pure and holy).
Just like “Kanmani anbodu kaadhalan naan ezhudum kadidhame”, Manjummel Boys too, hits no wrong note. For, I smiled widely again. So should you. Thank you, Chidambaram.
P.S. Gunaa has an extremely disturbing storyline and must not be replicated in real life ever.
