Movie: Minnal Murali
Rating: 3/5
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram, Harisree Ashokan, Femina George, Aju Varghese, Baiju Santhosh
Director: Basil Joseph
Streaming On: Netflix
Release Date: 24th December, 2021
Story: When lighting strikes a village, it directly hits two people and they end up being gifted with superpowers as a result. One of them uses these powers for the good and the other for his own greedy needs. The rest of the story is all about the clash between good and bad and who emerged successful in the end.
Performances: Tovino Thomas has done a neat and composed job and displayed the required panache as a superhero. Guru Somasundaram walks away with the cake though. His badass act is terrific and he undoubtedly dominated Tovino Thomas. His character is written with good depth and definition and his performance added to that and made this role one of the very special negative roles in recent years. Apart from these two, Femina George, Aju Varghese, Baiju Santhosh, Harisree Ashokan and all others were neat fits in their roles.
Analysis: Most of the Indian superhero films made till date are either comedy flicks or serious ones which aim at entertainment over emotional connect. Minnal Murali tries to balance entertainment and emotional connect and has succeeded at that to a good extent. The focus is entirely on the protagonist and antagonist. Their characters are brilliantly written and quite a lot of time is spent on establishing them and getting us used to them. But one thing which has to be admitted is that the antagonist character totally started dominating the film from somewhere in between and it also starts feeling as if he got slightly more screen time than the hero itself. The protagonist deserved a slightly bigger buildup and an even more stronger connect to match the incredible villain. Technically, the film is very commendable. The grand visuals, unique background score, costumes, art direction, action sequences and production design have all made their work noticeable with good efforts from their side. The length is one of the other few minor issues. Things could have been kept slightly more brisker in the first half as the film took way too much time to establish certain things which could have been done faster too. Also, the number of superhero sequences are quite few in number and may disappoint those expecting more of that. The climax created the right buildup to a sequel, which is definitely worth waiting for.
Plus Points:
Performances
Villain characterisation
Visuals and music
Production values
Minus Points:
Very few superhero sequences
Pace in the first half
Superhero characterisation slightly weak in comparison to the supervillain
Verdict: Minnal Murali is a proper superhero action drama that stays true to it’s genre, emotions and characters. Definitely worth a watch for that reason and also for the good performances and technical finesse.
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