Frankly, I was pissed off with 'Manjummel Boys' as every lip that I came across did not fail to mention it and every reel that I scrolled through played the song 'kanmani anbodu'. I did not understand what all the hype was about! And the 'not knowing' freaked me out. I am not usually this curious about a movie.
A week later, my cousin asked me if I wanted to go with them to watch this movie for an evening show at a theatre so far away. Despite having college the next day, I went to the other end of the city just to watch this overrated piece of a film.
So all that I wrote about so far was my initial response to the idea of the film. I thought it was overhyped because it is common for the most silliest of things to go viral and become trending these days and I was under the impression that this movie was also one such overrated trend that if you haven't watched it, you'd be caught with the fear of missing out.
But to find out if the movie is truly worth the hype, continue reading!
So we sat down to watch the movie from the title card. The film began, characters were introduced and honestly, the first thirty minutes bored me so much that I felt it was a little dragging. It may have also been because I was watching another language film.
However, I had my mouth open (spoilers ahead if you STILL haven't watched) from when Subhash falls into the devil's kitchen. It was so thrilling. I was curious to know if he would be rescued or left to die. It was so heart-touching to watch his friend volunteer to go into the cave to save him, given that even the well-trained rescue team refused to go in fearing their safety. I don't know how to explain the emotional experience I went through when Subhash was lifted out of the cave, along with Kuttan having a strong grip over him and the whole gang handling the rope with all they've got as the lines "......... manidhan unarndhu kolla idhu manidha kadhal alla adhayum thaandi punidhamaanadhu" played.
Oh my God! What a powerful portrayal! Everything synced—the story, the locale, the song. It was as though the whole song, though it's of different film's, was created just for this moment.
I'll try to verbalise the internal experience I had while watching this particular scene. It might look like I am exaggerating, but listen! It was soothing and mending, like a balm. The scene penetrated through all layers of my heart and made sure it injected some love.
I've observed that many Malayalam films narrate a small but intricate plotline so beautifully. They try to depict the depth of a situation rather than stuffing too many events in a sequence. So 'Manjummel Boys' being one such film is worth all the hype! ❤️❤️
-Bhooja Ramaswamy
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