Shooting in Guna Caves was challenging: ‘Manjummel Boys’ director Chidambaram

Inspired by a real-life incident, the survival thriller left the audience in awe.

In an interview with IMDb original series “On The Scene”, director Chidambaram recollected the shooting process and spoke about his favourite scenes in the movie.

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‘Shooting in Guna Caves was the toughest part’

Chidambaram’s directorial ‘Manjummel Boys’. (X)

When asked about the challenges while shooting the film, Chidambaram said they had a tough time filming the scene in a high-altitude place like Kodaikanal. “Well, it was too cold and since we hail from a coastal area, we faced difficulty adjusting to the terrain. We had to wake up early because we got permission to shoot in the real Guna Caves from 5 am to 9 am.”

He recalled, “We had to wrap up the shoot by 9 am and leave before the tourists arrived at the caves. This was the hardest part as every day, we had to carry all the equipment and get into the Guna Caves.”

The filmmaker disclosed that venturing into and out of the caves was a fatal task they had to attempt daily because the tourist place was dark and slippery with deep pits everywhere. “Also, there was a lot of crowd management, continuity of background actors, and rain,” he added.

While some sequences were shot in the original Guna Caves, the rest were filmed in a massive set created in a godown in Perumbavoor by art director Ajayan Chalissery.

Chidambaram also revealed that the monkey skull shown in the film was filmed when he went into the Guna Caves for the first time. “It almost looks like a human skull. It was pretty terrifying. Kamal (Haasan) sir also picked a monkey skull from the Guna Caves and he used it in Hey Ram (2000).”

Related: Art director Ajayan Chalissery’s sheer hard work in ‘Manjummel Boys’ gets recognised

On his favourite scene

‘Manjummel Boys’ is based on a real-life incident. (X)

So, what is his favourite scene in Manjummel Boys? The director says it was the one where Kuttan (Soubin Shahir) goes down the caves to find Subhash (Sreenath Bhasi) and the latter grabs onto Kuttan’s neck.

“The scene left a mark on the audience in theatres than I expected. It was quite intense and my favourite from the film,” he said.

When asked how he convinced directors to act in his flick, Chidambaram quipped that it was not a difficult task as the directors know how to make people act and they also know how to act. “Moreover, we are all friends,” he added.

Chidambaram stated that he is open to doing remake films. However, he doubted if Manjummel Boys would work if remade in other languages. He also opined that the movie would not have got wide acceptance had it been a fictional story.

The filmmaker said he was proud of the Malayali audience as they accept all kinds of movies in a language — Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and English.