Malayalam short film ‘Country Boys’ regales viewers with humour and performance of the cast

Country Boys, a breezy short film by Vishnu Devan, celebrates friendship and camaraderie, through the story of a mischievous gang of four — Jithu, Kunjava, Kannankutty and Abhi. They mean trouble with the big T — they quadrupule ride on the bike of Jithu’s father without helmets, and even have a blast with an ‘ice cream bomb’, which they explode on the top of a hill. At the same time, they have each other’s back when needed.

“It is a lighthearted story about the predicament of four boys whose revenge plan takes a hilarious turn. We have conceptualised it as a simple film about friendship and growing up,” says Vishnu.

Jithu watches his drunken father getting beaten up during the temple festival. Embarrassed, he stays aloof from his friends. Kunjava gives him the idea of taking revenge. But their confidence fizzles out when they realise that the opponent is much stronger. However, Jithu is hell bent on taking revenge. They do take the revenge, but the execution is hilarious and the tail end is even funnier. 

Still from the Malayalam short film Country Boys
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Vishnu says that the idea has been with him for some time. “In fact, I shot the temple sequences before the full script was ready because the temple festival season was getting over and the festival at Pothozhikkavu temple at my native place, Mannarkkad, was the last one on the festival calendar of Malabar region. So we shot the folk song sequence, the attack on Jithu’s father and a happy dance by the boys. That came out my well and I got the confidence to write the full story.”

The takeaway from the short is the performance of the four actors – Nived (Jithu), Shareef (Kunjava), Naveen (Kannankutty) and Abhijith (Abhi), who nail it with their cracking one-liners, dialogue delivery and body language. There is so much ease and conviction in the way the foursome has brought out the innate naughtiness, nonchalance and adventurous streak of their generation. “We found them from our own friends’ circle. We wanted kids who are smart and the four fit the bill.”

Vishnu admits that he has woven instances from his life and that of his friends into the narrative. “Definitely not the revenge part! That is only a cinematic thing,” he says with a laugh. He adds that the team spent a lot of time in scouting for the right locations and have shot it in and around Mannarkkad.

Filmmaker Vishnu Devan
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A highlight of the short is songs by Rajat Prakash, best known for his viral tracks from Vaazha 1 and 2. The background score is by Abhiraman, Titus and Vivek Leo. DOP is Adarsh Sadananandan and editor is Vishnu Manik.

Vishnu comes with the experience of having worked as an assistant director with filmmaker Girish AD, director of Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, Super Saranya, Premalu and I Am Kathalan. He is an associate director in Girish’s upcoming release, Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, starring Nivin Pauly and Mamitha Baiju. Girish has co-produced the short film with Reeju Jose. “He had promised financial help when I told him about the work. But once he watched the film, he was so happy that he agreed to produce it,” Vishnu says.

He joined Girish after completing his course in visual communication. In between he assisted Priyadarshan in Corona Papers, Olavum Theeravum in the anthology Manorathangal and a few advertisements. “Now I plan to to go independent and work on my own cinema.”

Country Boys is streaming on YouTube