Minnal Murali (Netflix)
Starring Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram
Directed by Basil Joseph
Rating: *** ½
Minnal Murali is Malayalam cinema’s first super-hero film. To this, we can safely add that it is is India’s first successful attempt at a super-hero film which is funny, entertaining and thoroughly satisfying.
Considering what Indian cinema has to offer in the genre—the memory of Remo D Souza’s The Flying Jatt with Tiger Shroff as a super-hero, still makes me shudder—Minnal Murali is not only welcome, it is a film we need to celebrate for captivatingly capturing the spirit of the superhero genre while preserving a pungent indigenous flavor.
It is like dipping meatballs into sambhar and coming up with a taste that is familiar fresh and inviting.Wisely director Basil Joseph sets the action in a small sleepy gossipy town in Kerala. This immediately scales down the cultural expanse of the idea, delimiting at the same time dilating and accenting the plot and the characters instead of focusing on the special effects.
At times the jokes seem tailormade to accommodate the tailor-hero’s modest tell-tale transition into superheroism.When Jaison(Tovino) tries to fly to test his superhero skills, he falls flat on his face, thereby sparing the film’s budget from flying costs.
“Let’s not push it,” counsels Jaison’s wise nerdy nephew Josemon(Vashisht Unesh)’s , an advice well taken by the film’s makers who know where to draw the line between slinky and kinky.
The presentation though modest in vision, is never tacky. The climax where Good Superhero combats Bad Superhero is impressively staged, though not on the scale that Marvel films are shot at. Here the focus is on the way the superhero powers affect the characters rather than on the spectacle and special affects.
It all starts when two unrelated character Jaison(Tovino Thomas) and Shibu(Guru Somasundaram) are struck by a lightning at the same time, though not at the same place.They both wake up to sense of physical strength and emotional turmoil that renders their routine life more adventurous than they had bargained for.
Rightaway let’s salute the super-acting powers of the two humble super-heroes who helm this engaging fable of the caped scaled-down crusaders. Tovino Thomas is the rising star of Malayalam cinema. See him as the confused reluctant endearing super-hero, and you’ll know why. However it is Guru Somasundaram whose emotional responses to his character’s newly-acquired powers that anchor the plot, and irrigate its irrational hurl into an odd and uncharted orbit.
Somasundaram’s look of gratitude and vindication when the woman he has loved all his life accepts his love, is a textbook illustration of emotive empowerment.
More than a stylish Marvel of nature(pun intended) Minnal Murali is an intimate character-study of power and its utilization in a world progressively driven by greed. The film has some terrific action sequences, more fun than fearful, where the characters play out a kind of perky precocious pantomime of super-heroism.
In one feisty sequence Tovino’s superhero takes on a vindictive cop(well played by Baiju) with riffs from Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ playing in the background.
It’s a joyride from the first to the last, powered by a sense of logistic fantasy—if that makes any sense—whereby the obvious absurdities of a flying crusader are melted down to a ground-level intrepidity born more of necessity than vanity.Yes, this homespun superhero film does overstay its welcome. But you know how we Indians are. We never when to stop.And that’s the way(aha aha) we like it.