Minnal murali – movie review

The quest for a desi superhero movie has been as old as the mountains. Our reel life matinee idols used to double up as super humans, with their power to punch and smash so much that, apart from spitting web, they mimicked all the super powers exhibited by Marvel/DC characters. There were failed attempts to open a franchise of a desi superhero, but even for Krrish, possibly the only series to make money from this genre, they had to “borrow” heavily from X-Men and other Hollywood films to stay relevant at the BO. Shaktimaan, the tv series, “leveraged” heavily from Superman and Harry Potter, mixing it into religious and cultural aspects, reviving and probably resuscitated Mukesh Khanna’s otherwise forgotten glory of B.R.Chopra’s Bheeshma. In tamil, the writers and directors were very clear. As long as they had MGR, Rajini and the rest of aspiring actors, happening to don their mantle, seeking their place in CM office, there is no need to even experiment this theme. Mugamoodi, was a notable exception and its presentation on screen confirmed that our guys are simply not ready for this genre. In this backdrop comes “Minnal Murali” and surprise of all surprises from Malyalam Movie industry, that is not much known for its VFX or commercial movies.

One line review for the movie would be – I loved it. It starts as failed love story of 2 protagonists in a remote kerala village and for some strange reason, the timing is supposed to be in an era when people watched Chitrahaar on DD!! Not sure of its relevance to the story line, but may be the makers wanted to remove all the possibilities of mobile cameras sneaking onto their heroes or possibly since this would also be the setting for an origin, if at all the movie clicks. The hero and the anti-hero both have similar tracks, gets struck by same lightening, gets same powers and in fact, the hero realizes all of his powers much later in the game. People may not be much wrong in getting confused who would be the actual “hero” for the story lines are so neatly constructed that, even though one of them robs a bank and hangs his shop owner mid-air, threatening him of dire consequences if he ever meddles with his lady love, it all sounds so reasonable and never wrong, whereas in comparison the hero character simply plays around with his powers breaking doors and windows. The way they get to know of each other’s existence is underplayed and their first interaction face to face post that is something capable only in Malayalam. It is so devoid of ground breaking earth shattering BGM, ultra-slow motion steps or punch dialogues that would spin a meme industry. In fact the villain, graciously asks the hero to move away when surrounded by scared villagers. Except for the climax, where the villain is hell bent on burning the whole village down, because they burnt the love of his life, there is nothing evil about that character. In fact, having been accustomed to so much of negativity on movies, where even regular heroes boast of being anti-villains, with grey shade being the primary color of character, even the murderous act of the villain, doesn’t sound far fetched and might even have been justified in any other movie, had it been the act of the lead character!! Such is the insensitivity that has been bred on screen nowadays. 

Like any superhero movie, it is the villain, who defines the hero and obviously the characterization of the villain is very detailed here as well. He gets equal screen space as hero, infact the same story line as hero as well. Wonder how many of our local movie stars would be capable of accepting such parlance. Kudos to Tovino Thomas, for being smart in ensuring the storyline takes precedence over his limelight. Eventually, the movie is going to be named and based on his character, possibly the sequels or franchise if and when they happen will be based on him, but he has been sensible in understanding the role of the villain and has underplayed his character. There are no unwanted or garish punch dialogues or over the top histrionics. In fact the hero moves away from his first love to second very easily that even raises questions on his character, whereas the villain, carries the flame in his heart for decades and eventually breathes his last trying to avenge the death of his love. I saw a note about the movie that, while Marvel is all about sarcasm and light weight characters, focusing more on the gimmicks and action,  DC heroes are invariably dark and brooding with a lingering sadness about them, making one wonder about their own sanity as against their villains. In Minnal Murali, you get the best of both, with a well defined villain and highly original stunts. They don’t have sky scrapers or vehicles to throw around and destroy. In fact, the hero ensures even the bus is saved in one piece (tight fisted producer). Some of the antics of the villain resembles “Heath ledger” who played Joker in batman (quotes intended) and some special effects resemble star wars Jedi setup. That apart, it is very original and very realistic as well. There are certain religious connotations thrown in that I couldn’t understand and want to ignore.

Junior is a die-hard devotee of spiderman. When I saw this movie, I felt it was more meant for adults who wouldn’t bother watching such movies anyway, especially from desi stables and would miss out on kids, who happens to form the core of their audience. Junior happened to sat through almost 3/4ths of the movie and finally said, he likes minnal murali!!! He infact has spun his own version with spiderman pitching in to help Minnal Murali already!! More power to Minnal murali and looking forward to the franchise. Another great win for Netflix.