Struck by lightning on Christmas Eve, a village tailor named Jaison gains telekinetic powers. The film that told his story arrived directly on Netflix and was widely hailed as a landmark for Indian superhero cinema.
Minnal Murali, which translates to Lightning Murali, is a 2021 Malayalam-language superhero film directed by Basil Joseph and produced by Sophia Paul under the Weekend Blockbusters banner. The screenplay was written by Arun Anirudhan and Justin Mathew. The film stars Tovino Thomas in a dual role and Guru Somasundaram, and follows Jaison, a young tailor from the fictional village of Kurukkanmoola who gains superpowers after being struck by lightning.
The project was formally announced in January 2019, with a concept poster revealed on 21 January 2019 to coincide with Tovino Thomas's birthday. Basil Joseph, who had earlier worked with Thomas on Godha (2017), spent extended time on the script and on pre-visualisation. He said publicly that the idea was brought to him by writer Arun Anirudhan in 2018, and that making a convincing superhero film in Malayalam was a significant challenge.
The story splits its powers between two men. On Christmas Eve, lightning strikes both Jaison and Shibu, a social outcast played by Guru Somasundaram, granting them telekinetic abilities. Jaison eventually adopts the persona of Minnal Murali, a character from his late biological father's unfinished play, while Shibu's obsession and grief turn him into the film's antagonist. The structure gives the film two superpowered figures rather than a single hero against an ordinary villain.
Principal photography began in December 2019 and was shot predominantly in Kerala, with some sequences filmed in Hassan, Karnataka. The shoot was disrupted repeatedly by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a halt after Tovino Thomas tested positive for the virus, and was finally wrapped on 25 July 2021. The production also suffered when a church set was vandalised in 2020, an incident that drew condemnation from the Malayalam film industry and led to arrests.
Originally planned for a theatrical release, the film was rerouted to streaming because of pandemic-era cinema closures. Netflix confirmed the direct-to-streaming release in September 2021. The film premiered at the Mumbai Film Festival on 16 December 2021 and was released worldwide on Netflix on 24 December 2021, dubbed into Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English alongside the original.
The film score was composed by Sushin Shyam, while the songs were composed by Shaan Rahman and Sushin Shyam, with Manu Manjith as the primary lyricist. Cinematography was by Sameer Thahir and editing by Livingston Mathew. Hollywood stunt choreographer Vlad Rimburg was brought in to supervise the action sequences, and Basil Joseph worked closely with the visual-effects team from the pre-production stage.
Critical reception was strongly positive. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 75 percent of eight critics' reviews were positive, with an average rating of 7 out of 10. Hindustan Times described it as India's first great superhero movie. At the 52nd Kerala State Film Awards the film won honours including Best Costume Designer for Melvy J, Best Sound Mixing for Justin Jose, and Best Male Playback Singer for Pradeep Kumar. In a 2022 interview, Tovino Thomas said a sequel was being planned but would take time.
Reported from the English Wikipedia entry on Minnal Murali.
