“Manithar unarndhu kolla, ithu manitha kadhal alla. Athaiyum thaandi punithamaanathu”. (This is not the kind of mortal love that men can comprehend. It’s purer/holier than that.)
Those words from a 33-year-old Tamil movie, Guna, are among the loudest echoes emanating from the success of a low-budget Malayalam thriller, Manjummel Boys, which has shattered records, grossing ₹180 crore (the highest for any Malayalam movie) at the box office, backed by nothing but good word of mouth and the power of social media.
Breaking linguistic, cultural, and temporal barriers, the film has also revived the fandom for the 1991 Tamil cult classic film, Guna, which inspired Director Chidambaram S Poduval.
The searches for Guna have exploded since the release of Manjummel Boys.An ardent fan of Kamal Hassan, Poduval tossed in some easter eggs from Guna in his own movie as a tribute to his hero. The searches for Guna have exploded since the release of Manjummel Boys.
Lakhs of videos celebrating, eulogising, and reinterpreting Guna's story and songs have flooded the internet in the last one month.
Another gem from Kerala
“It's unbelievable, the growth of the movie and reception received by the movie,” Chidambaram said in a recent interview.
Today, getting screen space for a few weeks would make the biggest filmmakers envious. Almost a month down the line, Manjummel Boys has broken box office records for Malayalam movies in other states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the fandom seems to be spreading further.
“Simply extraordinary piece of confident mainstream filmmaking. So much better than all the big budget filmmaking in India,” said renowned director and producer Anurag Kashyap, who also admitted to being “insanely jealous” of Malayalam cinema.
Manjummel Boys is indeed another gem in the ever-evolving landscape of Malayalam cinema where contemporary storytellers, still deeply rooted in tradition, serve delicious, relevant and endearingly authentic works of art with impressive frequency.
Not just Kashyap, reputed filmmakers across states lauded the movie on social media without any apparent prompt. Influencers, movie buffs, reviewers and even illustrators took to digital platforms, creating extraordinary buzz and driving audiences to the theatres to watch the movie.
Is timing key to success?
Manjummel Boys didn’t have the money, muscle or the relevance offered by contemporary politics as another movie, Article 370, released in the same week.
On the other hand, Guna got lost in the shadow of the more mainstream (and a masterpiece in its own right) Thalapathi, directed by Mani Ratnam with superstars Rajinikanth and Mammooty in lead roles, which released on the same day in 1991.
Kamal Haasan wasn’t a lesser star than Rajinikanth in 1991 but questions like ‘who’s normal in society and who’s not’, which Guna explored were possibly a bit too meta for the audience at the time, compared to the gripping political drama offered by Thalapathi.
The evolution of Indian cinema and its audience
Essentially, the success of Manjummel Boys can be attributed to at least three reasons aside from the much-lauded cinematography and screenplay, which weaves a real-life incident with narration and drama that has the audience hooked into the film with its complex emotions effectively portrayed by the actors.
First, the audience is more open to authentic stories, across a wider range of subjects, no matter the budget.
Second, as mentioned above, linguistic barriers melt more easily, as long as the plot and characters are relatable, in 2024 than they did 30 years ago.
Third, a compelling movie is no longer reliant on the whales of the film industry to promote them. Every once in a while, social media helps artists break the stranglehold of the gatekeepers and reach the audience, which fuels the journey of the art thereon.
In recent years, Oscar nominations for Village Rockstars (Assamese) and Jallikattu (Malayalam) are a true testament to what Indians today resonate with. Movies like Court (Marathi), as well as Hindi films without a starcast like 12th Fail and Masaan have garnered attention all over the world despite minimal promotion.
An unexpected success like that of Manjummel Boys is not just inspiring for young filmmakers but it also draws attention to the works of art that inspired its production. An entire generation has woken up to a movie that would have been a lot more relevant in 2024 India than it was in 1991.
When will Manjummel Boys release on OTT?
Negotiations are still underway and the producer wants as much as ₹20 crore in return for the OTT rights, according to a Times of India report citing trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai.
Other speculators say that the OTT release may have to wait until the movie is released in Telugu and Hindi.
(Edited by : Sriram Iyer)
First Published: Mar 17, 2024 9:48 PM IST
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