This tiny Rs 20-crore film without any superstar or big promotions broke all box office records to emerge as the highest-grossing film in its language.
The term sleeper hit refers to any film or show that becomes successful with little fanfare and against the expectations of trade pundits. Over the years, there have been many examples of small-budget films breaking the bank at the box office, most notably with overseas successes like Secret Superstar. But some films have won the box office race in the domestic market as well and the most recent example of this is the Malayalam sleeper hit Manjummel Boys
Manjummel Boys box office success
Directed by Chidambaram, Manjummel Boys is a survival thriller without any big star, female lead, or antagonist. In addition, it was made on a budget of just Rs 20 crore, low even for the usually cost-efficiet Malayalam cinema. Prior to its release, the makers did host some promotional events but the film’s promotional campaign was nowhere close to how the films of big stars like Mohanlal, Mammootty, or even new-gen stars Prithviraj, Dulquer, and Fahadh are promoted. Yet, after its release on February 22, the film broke several box office records, first becoming the fastest Malayalam film to cross the Rs 100-crore mark and then becoming the first Malayalam film ever to reach Rs 200 crore.
How Manjummel Boys became the highest grossing Malayalam film ever
On March 16, Manjummel Boys took its box office returns worldwide to Rs 180 crore, surpassing the lifetime figure set by disaster drama 2018 last year. This made the film the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. Only three other Malayalam films have crossed Rs 100 crore in history – namely Pulimurugan (Rs 152 crore), Lucifer (Rs 127 crore), and Premalu (Rs 115 crore and counting).
All about Manjummel Boys
Based on a true incident from 2006, Manjummel Boys is about a group of friends from the titular town, who find themselves in a life-or-death situation after one of them falls down a cave. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi S. Poduval, Lal Jr., Deepak Parambol, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Khalid Rahman, Chandu Salimkumar, Shebin Benson, and Vishnu Reghu. It has been unanimously praised by critics.
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