THR India's 25 in 25: How 'Kumbalangi Nights' Found Poetry in Imperfection and Home in Chaos

Kumbalangi Nights is arguably the single most seminal Malayalam film for the way it cultivated an audience for the industry outside of Kerala, and it continues to be watched, re-watched and discussed to this day. The Malayalam film was directed by Madhu C. Narayanan, written by Syam Pushkaran and produced by Fahadh Faasil and Nazriya Nazim. The film stars Soubin Shahir, Shane Nigam, Fahadh Faasil, Sreenath Bhasi, Anna Ben, Grace Antony and Mathew Thomas. 

Set in a fishing village in Kochi, Kerala, the film centres on four brothers living together in a dysfunctional home, and how they eventually unite and come together.

A still from 'Kumbalangi Nights'

Anna Ben on Making Kumabalangi Nights

If picking scripts was an artform, then not many would come close to Anna Ben. In a career spanning just over five years, she has already been a part of films such as Kappela, Helen, Sara’s in Malayalam, pan-Indian blockbuster Kalki 2898 AD and the Tamil arthouse favourite, Kottukkaali. But even this list doesn't compare to the film that started it all for Ben, Kumbalangi Nights. 

There’s no rehearsed perfection or the clarity of having repeated these anecdotes a hundred times when Ben reminisces about Kumbalangi Nights, her first film. The excitement in her voice becomes so obvious that you feel her thoughts getting ahead of her words. Her descriptions don’t just take one back to the days of the film’s release, but Ben makes one feel like they were there, right next to her.  

“I was so nervous on day one,” she says. “I was standing on the set with a pen and a notebook, as though I was ready for day one of school. I was expecting pointers from Madhu chettan (brother) and Shyam chettan and to note it all down. But they took me aside and the three of us started to listen to music over a cup of chaya (tea). The backdrop was stunning, with Kumbalangi backwaters flowing right behind.”  

Anna Ben in a still from 'Kumbalangi Nights'

Her favourite scene remains the big argument her character, Babymol, has with Fahadh Faasil’s Shammi. Back then Ben was so new to the job that she did not know enough to feel nervous. “But I remember the assistant directors telling me about that scene’s importance and they were nervous for me, this first-timer, having to perform with seasoned actors. Shyam chettan, too, told me how important it was and then narrated it to me. That’s when I realised the intensity. But as we shot it a couple of times, I could feel the energy and that it was working out...it’s a feeling I’ve been chasing since.”  

Besides her own career, she knows the impact the movie has had on Malayalam cinema. She speaks after having returned from Mumbai and she cannot recall the number of times non-Malayalis have narrated their favourite scenes, and at times, exact dialogues from the film. “That’s how many times they’ve seen it…the remember all of that, even after five or six years.” 

Ben also remembers the day she went to watch the film in the theatre with her parents. As it was shot on sync sound, she did not get a chance to watch parts of the film in dub. She wasn’t even aware of the story, with her knowledge limited to the plot and her character arc. “But in the theatre, I sat one row behind Soub ikka (elder brother; Soubin Shahir). He turned around and asked if I’d seen the movie and I said I had not. He smiled this specific half smile, paused for a second and said, “This is going to change everything.” I didn’t understand what he meant then, but now, I do.”