Minnal Murali (2021) Review – Kerala’s Homegrown Superhero Lights Up the Sky

Our Rating: ★★★★☆ 8.5/10

Every film industry eventually asks itself a question: what would a superhero look like if he came from here, from our streets, our jokes, our weather? For Malayalam cinema, the answer arrived on Christmas Eve 2021, not in a cinema but on Netflix, wearing a mundu, sporting a moustache, and answering to the name Minnal Murali. Directed by Basil Joseph and starring Tovino Thomas, the film takes the familiar superhero origin story and plants it firmly in a small Kerala village in the 1990s, where the biggest local events are a church feast, a tailor’s shop rivalry and the crackle of lightning over the paddy fields.

The result is one of the most purely enjoyable Indian genre films of recent years. It is funny without being a parody, spectacular without losing its small-town soul, and emotional in ways that the big-budget superhero factories rarely manage. Its action sequences are inventive, its villain is genuinely tragic, and its hero is the kind of ordinary young man audiences recognise from their own neighbourhoods. It is not flawless — the middle stretch sags a little, and some of its humour leans on broad village comedy — but as a piece of popular filmmaking with real heart, it is a triumph.

Quick Facts: Minnal Murali at a Glance

The Story: Lightning Strikes Twice in Kurukkanmoola (Spoiler-Free)

The film is set in the fictional village of Kurukkanmoola in 1990s Kerala. Jaison, played by Tovino Thomas, is a young tailor with big dreams and a small life. He wants to move to America, impress the girl he loves, and escape the shadow of his father, a man the village remembers with little fondness. Jaison is charming, vain, funny and fundamentally decent — the kind of hero who checks his hair before he saves the day.

One stormy night, lightning strikes Jaison — and, at the very same moment, strikes another man in the village: Shibu, a quiet, socially awkward young man played by Guru Somasundaram, who has spent his life being mocked and pushed around. Both men wake up changed. Both discover they have extraordinary abilities: superhuman strength, speed, reflexes and the power to channel electricity. What they do with those gifts could not be more different, and that difference is the film.

This review will not reveal how their paths collide, but the structure is classical in the best sense: two men given the same miracle, one shaped by love and community, the other by loneliness and rejection. Around them, Basil Joseph builds a rich village world — a tea shop full of gossips, a police station run by a blustering but kind-hearted officer, a church feast, a rival tailor, and a love story that is sweet without being saccharine. The film’s great trick is that it never rushes past the village to get to the spectacle. The spectacle matters because the village matters.

Performances: A Hero, a Villain and a Village

Tovino Thomas as Jaison / Minnal Murali — Tovino is one of Malayalam cinema’s most reliable leading men, and this is his most crowd-pleasing role. He plays Jaison’s vanity and vulnerability in equal measure: the young man who practises heroic poses in the mirror is the same one who will risk everything for people who once laughed at him. His comic timing is sharp, his physicality in the action scenes is convincing, and he carries the emotional arc — from selfish dreamer to responsible hero — without ever turning solemn. The red-and-black costume, the mask and the mundu should look ridiculous; on Tovino, they look iconic.

Guru Somasundaram as Shibu — If Tovino is the film’s heart, Guru Somasundaram is its soul, and arguably its finest performance. Shibu is not a villain in the cackling, world-domination mould. He is a lonely man who has been bullied all his life and who finally has power — and the film asks, with real empathy, what such a man would do with it. Guru plays him with a heartbreaking mixture of menace and childlike longing. His scenes with the woman he loves are tender and unsettling at once, and his transformation into the film’s antagonist feels tragic rather than merely threatening. It is the rare superhero film in which the villain’s pain is as memorable as the hero’s triumph.

The supporting cast — Aju Varghese, a regular Basil Joseph collaborator, brings warmth and humour as Jaison’s friend and confidant, while Femina George, in her debut, is a spirited and likeable presence as the film’s heroine, Biji. Shelly Kishore, Baiju Santhosh as the local police officer, and the army of village character actors all contribute to the feeling that Kurukkanmoola is a real place with real relationships, not a backdrop. The film’s comedy works because these performers treat the village as home, not as a joke.

Direction and Technical Craft

Basil Joseph’s direction is the film’s greatest asset. He understands that a superhero film made on a modest budget — roughly ₹20 crore, a fraction of a Hollywood Marvel production — cannot win by out-spending the competition. Instead, he wins on imagination. The action sequences are staged with wit and clarity: a chase through the village, a fight in a tea shop, a climactic confrontation during the church feast, all choreographed so that the audience can follow every blow and laugh at every gag. The visual effects, by Malayalam cinema standards, are genuinely impressive, and more importantly they are used in service of character: Jaison’s powers are shown through small, funny, human moments — dodging, leaping, showing off — before they are ever used in a big set piece.

Sameer Thahir’s cinematography gives the film a warm, saturated look that suits both the village and the superhero spectacle. The 1990s setting is evoked through costume, music and detail rather than heavy-handed nostalgia, and the production design makes Kurukkanmoola feel lived-in: the tailor’s shop, the tea stall, the church and the rain-soaked lanes all feel like places the audience could walk through. The editing keeps the 152-minute runtime moving, though the film does lose a little momentum in its middle hour, when the origin story pauses for romantic and comic detours that, charming as they are, delay the collision the audience is waiting for.

Music and Background Score

The film’s music, with songs by Shaan Rahman and a background score by Sushin Shyam, is one of its secret weapons. The songs are catchy and rooted in Kerala’s popular musical idiom without feeling like a generic soundtrack album, and they do real narrative work — establishing Jaison’s dreams, the village’s festive energy and the romance at the film’s centre. Sushin Shyam’s score is even more important: it gives Minnal Murali a heroic musical identity, swelling at the right moments and pulling back for the quieter scenes, so that the film feels like a superhero movie even when its hero is just walking down a village lane. The sound design around the lightning and the hero’s powers is punchy and satisfying, and it sells the fantasy far more effectively than the visual effects alone could.

What Works and What Doesn’t

What we loved:

• A genuinely original superhero origin, rooted in a Kerala village rather than copied from Hollywood
• Guru Somasundaram’s tragic, unforgettable villain — one of the best in recent Indian cinema
• Tovino Thomas’s charismatic, funny and likeable hero
• Inventive action on a modest budget, staged with wit and clarity
• A warm, lived-in village world and a score that gives the hero real grandeur

What could be better:

• The middle stretch sags slightly, delaying the hero-villain collision
• Some village comedy is broad and familiar, even if well performed
• The climax, while emotional, follows a fairly conventional superhero template
• Viewers expecting dark, gritty realism will find the film’s tone lighter than the premise suggests

Box Office: A Streaming Sensation, Not a Theatrical One

Minnal Murali never had a conventional box-office run, and that is central to its story. Originally planned for a theatrical release, the film went directly to Netflix on 24 December 2021 after pandemic-related delays, so there is no theatrical gross to report — and any website quoting a theatrical collection for it should be treated with suspicion. What it did have was a streaming triumph: it became one of the most-watched non-English films on Netflix globally in its opening period, reportedly drawing more than 32 million viewing hours’ worth of attention in the trade coverage of the time, and it trended in dozens of countries. For a Malayalam film, that global reach was unprecedented.

On the budget, sources differ slightly, which is why our Quick Facts gives a range: some databases list ₹18 crore, while director-focused profiles and trade reports put the figure at around ₹20 crore, with Netflix’s acquisition of the digital rights alone reported at about ₹13 crore before the film moved to a direct streaming premiere. Either way, the film is a textbook case of modest spending producing outsized impact — and it proved that an Indian superhero film does not need a ₹200 crore budget to travel the world. It needs a good idea, a good villain and a village worth saving.

Verdict: Should You Watch It?

Yes — and this is one of the easiest recommendations in Malayalam cinema. Minnal Murali is funny, thrilling, emotional and original, and it works for viewers who have never seen a Malayalam film as well as for those who know every Basil Joseph joke. Watch it with family, watch it with children, watch it with anyone who thinks superhero films have to come from Hollywood. The film’s final message — that heroism is about responsibility to the people around you, not about powers — lands because the film has earned it, one village scene at a time.

Our rating: 8.5/10 — Kerala’s own superhero: funny, heartfelt and spectacular on a modest budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Minnal Murali based on a real superhero or comic?
No. Minnal Murali is an original character created for the film by writers Arun Anirudhan and Justin Mathew with director Basil Joseph. The name roughly means “Lightning Murali” — Murali being the hero’s chosen name.

Where can I watch Minnal Murali?
It premiered on Netflix on 24 December 2021 and remains available there in Malayalam with dubs and subtitles in multiple languages, though availability varies by region.

Will there be a Minnal Murali 2?
A sequel has been discussed publicly by the makers, and the first film’s ending leaves the door open, but no confirmed release date has been announced.

Is Minnal Murali suitable for children?
Yes, largely. It has action violence and some intense scenes, but its tone is broadly family-friendly, and it is one of the most child-friendly Indian superhero films available.

Who plays the villain in Minnal Murali?
Guru Somasundaram plays Shibu, the film’s antagonist — a lonely, bullied young man who gains the same lightning powers as Jaison and becomes his dark mirror.