In 26 days of its release, Manjummel Boys, which has been doing wonders in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, became the first Malayalam film to collect Rs 200 crore at the box office. The film has been causing ripples since the day of its release, with its themes of a survival story and friendship. It also pays a warm tribute to Kamal Haasan's Guna, a critically acclaimed film from 1991. The film hugely caught on with the Tamil movie audience where people celebrated the placing of the Guna song 'Kanmani Anbodu'. Even Guna's director Santhana Bharathi said he was moved to tears.
Manjummel Boys is directed by Chidambaram, who made his debut with another craftily made film titled Jan.E.Man in 2021. Like in Jan.E.Man, Manjummel Boys also celebrates male camaraderie, portraying a gang of young men from lower-middle class background, taking a trip to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. Soubin Shahir and Sreenath Bhasi, the two actors who turned heads with their brilliant performance as brothers of a broken family in the 2018 film Kumbalangi Nights, once again become part of a brotherhood. Other familiar names include Balu Varghese, Jean Paul Lal, Ganapathi, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian and Deepak Parambol. Renowned actor Salim Kumar's son Chandu and director Khalid Rahman also play pivotal roles.
Kamal Haasan's voice echoes through the caves and the original song, composed by Ilayaraja, is played several times during the course of the film but it gets most effect in the climax. Within a few days of its release, Kamal met the men behind Manjummel Boys and conveyed his appreciation. For Chidambaram and his team, the meeting became the best moment of their success and termed it the real 'climax' of the movie.
Manjummel Boys surpassed the box office collection of 2018, which had been the highest grossing film before it, making more than Rs 150 crore. 2018 was based on the Kerala floods in that year.