Boys (2003)

Director:

S. Shankar

Writers:

S. Shankar (writer)
Sujatha (dialogue)

Release Date:

29 August 2003 (India)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Boys for gals

Plot:

'Boys' is the story of five boys and a girl from different families They are youthful, vibrant, careless violating all conventions and In the process, they discover their hidden talents.

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title

Cast

Siddharth	...	Munna (as R. Siddharth Narayan)
Nakhul	...	Juju (as Nakul)
Bharath	...	Bob Galy / Babu Kalyanam
Sai Srinivas	...	Krishna
Manigandan	...	Kumar (as Manikandan)
Genelia D'Souza	...	Harini (as Harini)
Vivek	...	Mangalam Sir
Senthil	...	Mendicant
A.V. Ramanan	...	Munna's Father
Janaki Sabesh	...	Munna's Mother
Anitha Rathnam	...	Harini's Father
Kalairani	...	Kumar's Mother
Havarasu	...	Kumar's Father
Subashini	...	Juju's Mother
K.P. Mohan	...	Juju's Father

Runtime:

172 min

Country:

India

Language:

Tamil

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Company:

Sri Surya Films

Trivia:

This movie suffered extensive censorship throughout its airing at cinema theaters. While for the first few days it was uncensored, it became less and less enjoyable as the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), India, made 17 cuts. The most well known cut was the deleted visuals and dialogs of Juju with the prostitute as he shakes the cot up to the dialog of Bobgali "please please konjam utkarungalen". This scene was shown in the trailer and was one of the most memorable portions of the film.

Quotes:

Kumar: What Kumar... a love letter?
Kumar: Sex Story. "Malgova Aunty"

Soundtrack:

Ale Ale

An unbiased review of Boys

I had a chance to see a trailer of this movie in a cinema theater and it looked modestly impressive but I imagined that it would be the standard Tamil movie fare and thus not worth wasting precious time on.

A day before of its release, one of my buddies proudly flashed his first-day-first-show ticket at me. I wondered if this movie was really worth bragging about? Then I learned that it was by the same director and writer who made Indian (Hindustani), Mudhalvan, Gentleman, Kaadhalan and Jeans. The First three movies were really good and the first and last were Indian's entries for the Oscars, so I speculated that this movie "Boys" could possibly be good.

A few days after the movie released, it was was the talk of the Town and the entire college was raving about it. Every single discussion was about Boys, Boys and Boys. People bragged that they had seen it 6 times already and were going to see it again. It kinda was like the Itchy and Scratchy movie hype in a Simpsons episode. I finally got to see this movie in the cinema. When we went and asked if we could get a ticket, the salesman said that "It was Boys for crying out! House full". We had to grab some quick tickets in black. Unfortunately, all the controversies caused by this movie had lead to all sorts of censorship already.

First of all, one must congratulate Shankar for a very daring and bold initiative in Boys, especially given how conservative the people of Tamil Nadu can be. This movie is extremely sexually explicit and I believe that it even had nudity before the censor cuts. Shankars big mistake was to advertise this as a family movie which it certainly is not. Any parent who sees this movie, especially those conservative ones from TN, are going to be furious. I believe that this was what cost the movie its performance in Box office and commercial success. The audience of middle class teenagers and college students was simply not enough to ensure it a box office success.

Molestation charges There is one song "Girlfriend" in this movie which could possibly just fall under the category of eve teasing or even molestation by sex-hungry Boys. This is probably what caused the most disturbance and did not let people see beyond think, leading to very harsh criticism of the movie in many circles. I would also imagine that women would be a bit uncomfortable with the scenes shown, to say the least. However, they fail to realize that it was just one song which had that and that it was JUST A MOVIE.

Stupid People vs a Great movie

You gotta know that the general population of Tamil Nadu actually went on riots and burnt effigies of a single celebrity who dared to say that premarital sex was OK. They also burnt effigies of the single supporter she had. Such were the conservative and village minded people who Shankar had to unfortunately deal with.

It really made my blood boil to see that so many good scenes and dialog from this movie were cut voluntarily. I've seen this movie 6 times already and would kill for an uncensored version. In contrast, the people of Andhra Pradesh, famous for its modernity, loved this movie.

Technical Aspects

As with all Shankar movies, every single technical aspect from dialog to screenplay to cinematography is top notch and by far the best of all his movies and also on par if not better than every single Tamil movie out there. The dialog is hilarious and extremely creative. Its impossible to come up with stuff like that seen in this movie. Every single action and hilarious antic in this movie has its consequences which are shown and utilized till the very end.

The acting is super-realistic. Shankar really knows how to get the best out of everybody. The acting of every single person including every extra is superlative and draws you in deeply. The freshly introduced cast of Boys are amazing actors.

Shankar has really explored the teenage life and antics of the Boys. He has also effectively portrayed their perspectives of the world, their studies and their parents, who are generally not shown in very good light but like I said, it was extremely realistic and something many can relate to. The Screenplay is unbelievable.

Social Message

Who says that this movie doesn't have a social message? It has a very important one and that is Love and Passion vs Getting Settled in Life which every parent wants a quick solution to. Every conservative family wants to get their children settled in life as soon as possible but completely ignores the personal life and needs of the child. Its an extremely good message if one could just keep and open mind and see the movie till the very end.

Songs

I used to hate the songs at first but truth be told, they are awesome. After seeing this movie, I really started to like the songs and they had some true significance and relation to the plot. The songs were all super hits, done by none other than AR Rahman who unfortunately went and blabbered something about Boys running successfully only due to the songs, leading Shankar to ditch him for his unfortunate crapfest, Anniyan.

Conclusion

Indeed, Boys may not be for everyone and one really has to keep an open mind while watching it, especially if one is a woman. Teenagers should have no problems. Having said that, this movie is undeniably a ground breaker and a landmark film in Indian cinema. It is extremely under-appreciated in Tamil Nadu just because some of the sexually explicit stuff that the Boys do caused too much shock which presided over common sense.