Cast: Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram, Femina George
Director: Basil Joseph
Indian cinema has a wide variety of genres to offer to us. You name it, and some film maker from some part of India would have at least done one film on the genre. Yet, till date, we turn our heads to Hollywood when it comes to Superhero films. Of course, we have commercial films, where the protagonist is generally larger-than-life. So powerful and heroic, that we willingly suspend our disbelief to accept that the Hero is capable of hitting 10 or more goondas. However, Indian Cinema had not really explored the superhero genre of films, until Mollywood decided to launch Minnal Murali.
Minnal Murali revolves around Jaison (Tovino Thomas) and Shibu (Guru Somasundaram), who are both hit by lightning, and end up gaining superpowers. However, the decisions they respectively make on how to use those superpowers make one the protagonist and the other the antagonist. How good wins over evil forms the basic crux of the story.
At the outset, Minnal Murali is just another ‘mass’ hero movie, with a superhero twist to it. But, the movie seeks to explore more than just the simple ‘Hero saves the day’ idea. Now, both Jaison and Shibu first use their powers to take revenge. So, initially, it is not like Jaison was always meant to be the hero and Shibu the villain. However, through the course of the storyline, Jaison decides to use his powers for better reasons, while Shibu goes for worse. This sets them apart, and hence the movie goes on.
Now, from the very beginning, the audience is aware of who the hero is meant to be and who the villain is. Yet, everytime the two meet, unaware of each other’s identity, we wonder what could possibly happen if the two forces are put against each other. This question of ‘What if?’ makes us want to keep watching, and it keeps us entertained throughout although the movie is quite long.
Being the first of its kind, Minnal Murali is quite different from the ‘superhero’ movies of Hollywood. When it comes to Hollywood, it is always about saving America. However, Jaison realises his true purpose only towards the very end of the movie, ie., to save Kurukkanmoola, a small village in Kerala. This makes us want to relate to this larger-than-life character and story, because Jaison was one of us before a lightning struck him.
Similarly, Jaison is put against Shibu who has very very similar powers, if not the same. It would have actually been easier for the director to establish that Jaison is capable of fighting several goondas, in comparison to our commercial movie directors who do it day-in and day-out. However, Basil Joseph stuck to just two, one against another, and made the fight more acceptable and balanced.
That’s not the best part of the movie. The best part is that the movie, although being of the superhero genre, establishes that anybody with just a little bit of presence of mind, and will to do good for all, can save the day. This is proven in the climax scene where Biji (Femina George) turns out to be just as heroic as Minnal Murali in salvaging the situation.
While American superhero movies talk about saving America and the word, Minnal Murali ironically establishes that Jaison actually wants to move to America to ‘settle’ in life. Most of his conflicts in the movie arise from him not being able to achieve this dream. However, he realises his purpose as a Superhero and decides to stay back and save his village, by the end of the movie.
Unlike general superhero stories, which expect the cause for the fight of the superhero to be huge, Minnal Murali justifies both Jaison and Shibu’s personalised cause of fight, so much that we actually feel sorry for Shibu’s loss in the end. The movie, by all means, was more of a fun, comedy take on a Superhero story, than an actual serious ‘Save the country’ kind of a film.
It is noteworthy that Shibu first uses his superpowers to fight a simple societal evil like sexual harassment. It makes the audience wonder if superpowers are actually necessary to tackle such battles, fought on a daily basis, rather than bigger threats.
Minnal Murali takes the easy and entertaining way to bring about a Superhero story. The movie has no unwanted scenes, and manages to convey the storyline in a simple and striking manner. It is a film of colors and carnivals that takes on a journey to the Kurukkanmoola village and its people. Thanks to Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram, and literally every other actors’ performance, the movie becomes so much more worth it.
For all those who don’t understand the Malayalam language, the movie is available in English, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu as well.
Minnal Murali is available on Netflix; watch before a ‘Minnal’ cuts down your power!
