00:00What I love about this film is like it's a friendship saga, but without the frills.
00:04I mean, it's as realistic as it gets.
00:09Good afternoon, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News. I'm the entertainment editor.
00:14And today I'm here with the review of Malayalam language film called Manjumal Boys.
00:18It stars Reenat Basi and Saubin, along with an eclectic set of very talented actors.
00:24It's a survival thriller directed by Chidambaram and it's playing in the UAE cinemas right now.
00:29What I love about this film is like it's a friendship saga, but without the frills.
00:34I mean, it's as realistic as it gets.
00:36And it's also it morphs into a survival drama,
00:39where one of the friends played by Sreenath Basi gets trapped in a hole
00:45when they travel to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu for a boys trip.
00:48What I loved about this film is the way in which the entire
00:53true life incident has been made into a film.
00:57All these friends have such a good bro code between them.
01:01I mean, they're not very wealthy.
01:02They come from very, very middle class upbringing.
01:06They hustle for a living.
01:07But at the same time, their excitement to be on a boys trip and how things get a bit of
01:13out of hand, how they're just excited to see the location where Kamal Hassan,
01:18the legendary Tamil actor, shot his movie called Guna, which was a massive hit.
01:23It's almost an homage to that movie.
01:25It starts off with one of the songs from that film.
01:28And you can see that Chidambaram has really been inspired by that film,
01:32which was shot in that cave.
01:34So these bunch of boys go and explore this cave.
01:36The boys get a bit excited and they go into a restricted part of the area.
01:40Trouble, bruise.
01:41When one of them played by Sreenath Basi goes into a hole,
01:44the friends get together to save their dear friend.
01:48What happens is that the mates who don't get much help from the police,
01:51from the local police in Tamil Nadu,
01:53or the forest officials, they take it upon themselves to actually save their mate.
01:58It is one of the most stirring films that I've seen in Malayalam cinema of late.
02:04I mean, I've seen movies like Premaloo, which was amazing.
02:06A small movie with great production values, good acting, etc.
02:10Similarly, this one as well, the Manumal Boys as well, is one of the well-made movies.
02:15I mean, it just touches you.
02:16What I loved about this film is that it's very realistic.
02:19Even the boys, boys don't seem like they belong to another universe.
02:23Their emotions, their fear when they realize that they have really screwed up,
02:29the kind of angst that they feel when they realize,
02:31the kind of survivor's guilt that they feel when they realize that they put their friend,
02:36their friend is in danger, there's nothing they can do, how do they help, etc.
02:40Those emotions are beautifully brought about.
02:42And the movie moves at a very rapid pace.
02:44The first few scenes, especially the first one, are you have to be patient,
02:50where you are drawn into their worlds, where, you know, the actor Saubin,
02:55who plays the most matured one of the lot, the leader of the gang,
03:00draws all of these boys together into a trip to Kodaikanal.
03:04They don't have much money, etc.
03:05And that's what makes this film very appealing.
03:08It's very grounded in reality.
03:10Nobody is a larger-than-life hero.
03:12Everybody is just trying to help their friend out.
03:15In fact, Saubin at one point, his character, which is based on a real-life incident,
03:19there is a real-life hero who goes down into the hole
03:22because none of the trained professionals want to go down.
03:25They're scared that this hole kind of is like demonic.
03:30You know, it's like a curse curve.
03:32They're scared that they won't be brought back alive.
03:35Therefore, none of the officials actually go into the hole, but the friend does.
03:39This movie is a great ode to friendship.
03:41It's also a great ode to how, you know,
03:44when push comes to shove, your friends actually come through.
03:48It's one of the most stirring films.
03:49And as far as performances go,
03:52I really thought Saubin and Srinath Basi had my heart.
03:55I mean, the parts in which where he's just broken,
03:57he's almost dead in that cave,
03:59those scenes really, like, speak to you.
04:02I remember watching a recent Fahad Fazal movie called Malayangunya,
04:06which was a survival thriller, which did not touch you,
04:09which did not, which seemed very, very synthetic.
04:11But here is a movie that's really warm.
04:13It's about friendship.
04:14It's about survival of the fittest, I suppose.
04:17And how your friends come together, the bandy together to help you out.
04:22I've gone with 3.5 out of 5.
04:24For our full review, go to gulfnews.com.
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