The film had become the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the time, earning over Rs 200 crores at the box office, becoming both a commercial success and acclaimed by critics.
Thrissur: Filmmaker Chidambaram’s superhit film ‘Manjummel Boys’ has bagged ten accolades at this year’s Kerala State Film Awards.
The film had become the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the time, earning over Rs 200 crores at the box office, becoming both a commercial success and acclaimed by critics. It had also featured in Google’s Top 10 Movies list in Google’s Year in Search 2024.
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The film won in the categories of Best Film, Best Director (Chidambaram), Best Screenplay (Chidambaram), Best Cinematography (Shyju Khalid), Best Art Direction (Ajayan Chalissery), Best Character Artist (Male) for Soubin Shahir, Best Sound Design (Abhishek Nair), Best Colourist (Srik Warrier), Best Sound Mixing (Shijin Melvin Hutton), and Best Lyrics (Vedan).
‘Manjummel Boys’ follows the true journey of a group of friends from Manjummel in Kochi to Kodaikanal in 2006, who embark on a daring mission to rescue one of their own from the Guna Caves, a treacherously deep abyss from which no one has ever returned.
The film was praised across the country for its visuals, production design, and the innovative use of the Tamil song ‘Kanmani Anbodu Kadhalan’ in a key scene.
‘Manjummel Boys’ was Chidambaram's directorial venture following ‘Jan.E.Man’ (2021). The film became a massive hit in several languages, and the director has already announced his next Malayalam project, ‘Balan: The Boy’ and a debut Hindi film, a gangster drama, in association with Phantom Studios.
Shuyju Khalid is the cinematographer of many beloved Malayalam films, including ‘Maheshinte Prathikaaram’, ‘Ee.Ma.Yau’, and ‘Sudani from Nigeria’. He is also part of the team of ‘Balan’, which has already begun production.
The production design was one of the highlights of the film, making the experience immersive and convincing. The set for Guna Caves was recreated in Perumbavoor, and it was well received by the audience. A behind-the-scenes video released by the makers in July 2024 explained how the VFX team, led by production designer Ajayan Chalissery, transformed the set into realistic visuals.
Soubin Shahir previously won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for winning hearts as Majeed in the 2018 film ‘Sudani from Nigeria’. He is also the co-producer of ‘Manjummel Boys’.
The rap song ‘Kuthanthram’, a groovy hip-hop number sung by Vedan, had become a fan favourite immediately upon release and had topped the music charts for months afterwards. The music gained international attention, with Sushin Shyam winning the award for Best Music at the KinoBravo International Film Festival in Russia in October.
Published: 03 Nov 2025, 06:15 pm IST
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