Here’s conclusive proof that worthwhile superhero cinema isn’t confined to Hollywood: a Malayalam language (or Mollywood) superhero epic from 2021 that pivots on pulpy excess in the manner of more prominent Hindi language forebears like MR. INDIA (1987), KRRISH (2006) and RA.ONE (2011), but MINNAL MURALI stands on its own.
The young tailor Jaison (Tovino Thomas) believes he’s the son of Varkey (P. Balachandran), who runs the shop at which Jaison works. In fact, his father was the late actor/playwright Martin (Thomas again), who specialized in playing a masked superhero known as Minnal Murali, “the savior of people in distress,” and died when his theatrical venue was struck by lightning. Presently, Jaison spends his days chasing his high school sweetheart Bincy (Sneha Babu), but she’s engaged to the rich dork Aneesh (Jude Anthany Joseph).
At a Christmas party one night, Jaison, who’s planning on relocating to America to make his fortune, is struck by lightning. So too is the middle-aged loser Shibu (Guru Somasundaram), who lives nearby and harbors an unrequited love for his childhood crush Usha (Shelly Kishore). Both men survive the strikes, which bequeath extremely acute sensory perception, superhuman strength and the ability to move objects at will.
They initially use their powers to get revenge on their respective enemies, in Shibu’s case Ishi’s sleazy brother Daasan (Harisree Ashokan) and in Jaison’s a bad cop acquaintance (Baiju Santhosh) via a violent act Jaison performs in his father’s Minnal Murali garb. Shibu, meanwhile, turns to evil (it’s revealed that madness runs in his family), robbing a bank and killing Daasan. This is a problem for Jaison, as Shibu pins his crimes on Minnal Murali, and only grows progressively crazier, leaving Jaison/Murali with no choice but to become the savior envisioned by his late father. The final scenes, needless to add, set the viewer up for a still-in-the-works sequel.
Slick is the word for this film, which outside some hammy performances (particularly that of Mammukoya as a goofball doctor who examines Jaison) is consistent and assured in both style and tone. The 163-minute runtime (about average for Indian cinema) is excessive, yet the pacing is lively and the scripting quite honed, with the songs so integral to Indian filmmaking taking the form of background ambience rather than being sung (or, more accurately, mouthed) by the actors. Even potentially deadly elements like the intercession of Jaison’s bespectacled young nephew (Vasisht Umesh), who serves as comic relief and dispenser of superhero knowledge, are smoothly integrated into a skillfully wrought tapestry.
One can certainly quibble about the special effects heavy final hour, in which the romantic subplots that drove much of the film’s earlier portions are either jettisoned entirely (as is the case with the Jaison-Bincy coupling) or resolved in an excessively weepy and sentimental manner (as occurs with the Shibu-Usha union) that’s unbecoming in an otherwise resolutely cool, unshowy film.
What keeps the final scenes afloat is the consistently inventive script, which audaciously kills off a pivotal character and offers up a climactic confrontation between Jaison and Shibu that’s suitably epic. It makes for a film that in 2021 appeared to herald a bold new direction for the struggling Malayam film industry, although precisely how well that industry has fared in the ensuing years is a matter of debate.
Vital Statistics
MINNAL MURALI
Weekend Blockbusters/Netflix
Director: Basil Joseph
Producer: Sophia Lau
Screenplay: Arun Anirudhan, Justin Mathew
Cinematography: Sameer Thahir
Editing: Livingston Matthew
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram, Aju Varghese, Baiju Santhosh, Harisree Ashokan, Vasisht Umesh, Femina George, Sneha Babu, P. Balachandran, Jude Anthany Joseph, Mammukoya, Sudheesh, Surjith Gopinath, Devi Chandana, Arya Salim, Shelly Kishore, Thennal Abhilash, Bijukuttan, Aliyar