Earning over Rs 207 crore globally, director Chidambaram’s Manjummel Boys now holds the title of the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. The survival thriller recorded an impressive India nett collection of Rs 2.15 crore on Saturday, its 31st day in theatres, bringing its total domestic collection to Rs 116.75 crore.
Meanwhile, Chidambaram recently shared his thoughts on the possibility of remaking Manjummel Boys in other languages. “There will be a bunch of boys like these in every corner of the world. Plus, friendship and love are very universal things. But since Manjummel Boys is based on a real story, I don’t know how it will be placed in other settings, and if it is entirely fictional, I am not sure if it will gain as much acceptance. However, I am very open to (the idea of) remakes and reinterpretations,” he said during a chat with IMDb.
The director further pinpointed Soubin Shahir’s Kuttan entering the cave to find his friend and Sreenath Bhasi’s Subash grabbing the former’s neck as his favourite moment in the movie involving the two actors. “The latter moment had more impact in the theatres than I expected. It was a very primal instinct that Subash had: to defend himself.”
Regarding his experience directing real-life helmers, who turned actors for this movie, Chidambaram noted the ease due to their existing knowledge of technical aspects.
Watch Manjummel Boys trailer here:
Stressing the importance of ensuring that the chemistry between the real Manjummel Boys was properly translated onto the screen, Chidambaram said that since all the actors were close to each other and hung out a lot in real life, it helped him pull it off. “It all came together well because we are all friends at the end of the day.”
Emphasising that the song “Kanmani Anbodu” from Gunaa became part of Manjummel Boys’ narrative in the initial stages itself, he said, “We then started working towards acquiring the rights for the song. Its lyrics, ‘Manithar unarndhukolla ithu manitha kaadhal alla! Athaiyum thaandi punithamanathu… (This is no mortal love for humans to understand! This is beyond that, pure…)’ can be very well placed in terms of friendship too, I discovered.”
The director also mentioned that the monkey skulls shown in the movie were collected from the actual Gunaa caves during his visit there prior to the film’s production. “It almost looks like a human skull and is pretty terrifying. Kamal (Haasan) sir also got monkey skulls during his visit there for shooting Gunaa (1991). He used those skulls in Hey Ram (2000),” Chidambaram added.
He further mentioned that they put significant effort into ensuring that the movie’s sound design was spectacular so that the Gunaa caves also became a character of its own.
Describing the meticulous process of recreating the Gunaa caves, Chidambaram explained the attention to detail and extensive research conducted for authenticity. “We were very particular about the position of the holes, and it’s all the same; we just made the cave 10 per cent bigger for our equipment to move around. We went to the cave in different climates and times of the day to understand its moods. We also took measurements inside the cave, laser-scanned it, and did lidar scanning, apart from taking moulds of actual rocks.”
He recounted the challenges faced during filming, including harsh weather conditions and safety concerns in the cave environment.
When asked about the unique characteristics of Malayalam movie fans, Chidambaram highlighted their openness to diverse content. “The audience has always supported movies that are very content-driven.”
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