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Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam, Television / Online
Basil Joseph’s ‘Minnal Murali’ (Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram) is an inspired “local” and drama-laden superhero movie
Posted on December 26, 2021
Baradwaj Rangan 
KS
December 26, 2021
One scene that really impressed me is the one where the hero and villain first meet over a smoke and soda while the villagers begin to stalk them. At this point, both of them know who the other is and what powers they both have. The cliched thing to do here would have been to have the hero mouth some grand dialogues about right vs wrong, and the villain provoking or challenging the hero.
Instead the hero simply asks about the murder of his friend, which the villain explains softly and requests some time to tie things up. That was a refreshingly earnest and polite interaction devoid of the expected malice and showiness.
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tonks
December 26, 2021
I could only spot these because of my son, but the movie is littered with Easter eggs from the director’s own and other old movies. One example, in the fair, other than Cuticura powder, he wins Dakshayini biscuits (Mithunam). And there’s a bottle of Salsa (from Kunjiramayanam) shown in a scene etc. The cameo by the director is that of a politician, and he mouths the same dialogue in a cameo in another movie as a politician.
And as someone rightly pointed out to me, intentional or not, the movie is also a social commentary : the same lightening strikes two orphans. The privileged, fair, loved orphan gets tender care and he becomes the hero. The dark, poor, underprivileged orphan lies all alone in his boat, and his circumstances turn him despite the same superpowers into the villain.
I wonder why they made it a period film.
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Mrinalini B
December 26, 2021
The pacing was slow, and it took its own time getting to the plot.
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krishikari
December 27, 2021
I really loved this movie for making it so specifically local. Kurukanmoola! I also enjoyed the set up of all the characters and their relationships. The time it took to get to the “plot” if by plot you mean action was well spent because, you already know where it’s going, there will be a climacitc fight between the two supermen so the process of getting there is more important.
Yes @Tonks there is definitely social commentary about how the two super men evolve into hero and villain but I like the way it doesn’t just blame society they are both given opportunities to make individual choices and genetics plays a part in the mental health issues. One thing my son pointed out is that this movie like a lot of the Hollywood movies, also stigmatises mental illness by co-relating it with violent tendencies while also trying to give a sympathy inducing backstory involving mental health.
Another social comment was how the woman has her moment of heroism away from the public eye, uncelebrated.
Also it had to be a period film because in the age of internet, Tovino’s ignorance of superheroes and the nephew explaining it to him would not make sense, among other things.
One shot it should have cut was the one at the end where a child sees a superman comic lying on the ground and looks up and breathes “superhero!” That was so redundant.
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Optimus
December 28, 2021
Technology or lack of it (mobile phones, cctvs primarily) has made some of these movies to be set in different periods. Here there is a dialogue on the first install of cctv in the area. Don’t have to worry about destroying pen drives , getting into cloud, torturing someone to get credentials, check which tower Jaison mobile Is hitting etc
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Lol
December 29, 2021
MANK, Anupama .where are you? Please comment and share your opinion on the movie . Your perspectives are always different and original.
A comment I read on YouTube that made me lol. Malayalam Cinema is so grounded that it made its first superhero a tailor, just so that it makes sense when he stitches his own amazing superhero costume. The villain meanwhile who is unable to stitch ,steals as scarecrow costume.
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tonks
December 29, 2021
One shot it should have cut was the one at the end where a child sees a superman comic lying on the ground and looks up and breathes “superhero!” That was so redundant
I too felt that at times it was too obvious, it didn’t seem to have a high opinion of its audience’s intelligence, spelling out many obvious things. Maybe they were playing to their child audience?
And the climax I thought was the weakest part of the movie. A little obvious and clichéd. But like haunted house horror movies, I think there’s only so much originality you can work around the original superhero trope.
Another social comment was how the woman has her moment of heroism away from the public eye, uncelebrated
Yes, that was a nice touch. I liked her unapologetic fiestiness.
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kaizokukeshav
December 30, 2021
One thing great about this movie it didn’t lose the plot to the superhero sub-context. The villain and hero were never in awe of their powers. Even if they weren’t superhero their actions would still be same.
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MANK
January 1, 2022
Yeah, it’s an extremely well made film, brimming with craftsmanship and detailing of the highest order in every department. I thought the conception of Jaison\Minnal Murali was a very interesting blend of Lord Krishna (hence Murali) and Jesus Christ- son of a ‘god’, raised by foster parents, charming, mischievous and romantic the birth of the superhero taking place on Christmas eve, then the confusion as to what do with his divine powers …
Did anybody feel that Guru somasundaram’s shibu was modelled after the tragic heroes of Lohithadas- particularly Mammootty from Thaniyavarthanam and Boothakannadi. The mental illness angle, the wait for the lost love, the society and circumstances turning him into a criminal etc… etc..
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Cholan Raje
January 2, 2022
Am I alone in thinking this is simply a bad movie? It has everything needed to make a great superhero film, but the script ruins everything. The script runs around like a headless chicken, bringing up something, taking the time to get you invested in that something, and then throwing it away. They spend half the film trying to make you feel bad for the villain but expect you to cheer along with the villagers and background score when he dies. They spend so much time establishing Jamison’s first love interest, only for her to have no role in the story afterwards. Usha is shown as a cautious woman aware of Shibu’s creepiness, then randomly barges into his house and says “ily.” They spend a huge amount of time trying to portray Jaison as this selfish loser, but instead of using this exposition to reward us by showing us how his selfishness transforms into selflessness, he becomes selfless at the flick of a switch after learning about a dad that he has no emotional connect to.
The result of all this wasting time and poor prioritization is an exhausting waste of time. No one says you need white people or VFX to make a great superhero movie, but you do need a competent script, and this one is terrible.
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krishikari
January 3, 2022
Am I alone in thinking this is simply a bad movie?
Yes, or at least I feel you are in a minority. The script was fantastic, not perfect but everything worked for me in this film. They wrote both the hero and villain arcs admirably. Yes they do go from making you sympathise with the Shibu in the beginning but there was a creepy element to his behaviour right from the start so it’s not out of the blue that his personality changes, it curdles slowly. And same with Jaison, he is a shallow slacker who finds his heroism very organically. The best part for me is how they balanced the humour and the emotion without the tonal balance going wrong.
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Srinivas R
January 3, 2022
Absolutely loved this movie. The rest of the movie was so good, the climax felt a little tame.
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MANK
January 3, 2022
Regarding the underwhelming climax: more than being predictable or tame, it’s generic, and maybe it goes on a bit too long. Till then the film was having great fun with the tropes of the genre- if not downright subverting them, but at east localizing and ‘Malayali’ sing them. That came across as really fresh. The climax is the only time when the director stuck very closely to the genre tropes as we see in a Hollywood superhero film. Hence, i believe, the feeling of tameness and predictability. Some things you just don’t want to tinker with much, and here it’s this apocalyptic battle between the superhero and super villain. But still he manages to add some unique touches: like ‘Bruce Lee’ Biji’s ‘heroism’ that nobody notices- which is as great as Jaison’s superheroism.
Also noticed how Shibu, who was using a scarecrow mask to hide his identity in the beginning, starts resembling (and moving) like a crow\bird in the climax. He became exactly the thing he was trying to scare away, while Jaison becomes the hero\god that his father was (and wanted him to be). The final coup de grace that Jaison\Minnal murali delivers (and the manner in which it is delivered) perfectly bookends the god vs demon theme that started off the film.
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hari
January 4, 2022
Absolutely loved the movie. A superhero movie that is full on desi was so lovely to watch.
I don’t understand Christian imagery, so probably missed out on a lot of “meta” around this. But still enjoyed. What a performance by the Joker.
Only thing I was not sure was why the usage of Venkatesha Suprabhatam when lighting strikes Shibu. Felt odd for me.
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