Minnal Murali Review: Netflix's Super Desi Hero

Jaison (Tovino Thomas) is a sharp-tongued, ambitious tailor in the fictional village of Kurukkanmoola, Kerala. He dreams of migrating to the United States and is unwillingly entangled in a rivalry with his estranged father. A freak lightning strike-during a thunderstorm that literally splits a tree in half-grants him superhuman speed and electrically charged reflexes. Meanwhile, a troubled young man named Shibu (Guru Somasundaram), who suffers from a traumatic past and is taunted as “Bruce Lee” Biji’s (Femina George) pity case, also gets struck by the same bolt. While Jaison uses his powers for petty vengeance and love, Shibu’s rage curdles into a dangerous obsession. When a series of accidents leads to a tragedy, Jaison must don a makeshift mask and become the unlikely superhero his community never asked for-and stop a villain who knows him better than anyone.

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Hollywood taught us that superheroes need a city to save and a skyscraper to leap from. Basil Joseph’s “Minnal Murali” argues, persuasively, that a hero only needs a village, a temple pond, and a tailor’s shop. This is a superhero movie that feels like it was grown from the soil of Kottayam, not shipped from a Los Angeles think tank. The result is spectacularly grounded, yet thrillingly elevated.

Tovino Thomas delivers arguably his most charismatic performance. He plays Jaison with a swagger that teeters between endearing and irritating-a young man who uses lightning-speed sass to win arguments, not battles. His transformation into the hero is not a moment of enlightened virtue but a slow, reluctant acceptance of responsibility. The opening act, where Jaison discovers his powers while trying to fix a sewing machine, is pure comedic gold. The film’s humour is refreshingly organic: a running gag about a local police inspector (Harisree Ashokan) who cannot stop getting electrocuted is absurd but never forced.

Guru Somasundaram, as Shibu, is the film’s secret weapon. His arc is a Greek tragedy compressed into a Malayalam comedy. Shibu’s pathetic loneliness, his desperate need for respect, and his terrifying rage when he finally gains power are handled with a nuance that elevates the conflict beyond a simple good-vs-evil showdown. Their face-off in the climax-a dusty, chaotic brawl in a warehouse-is emotionally resonant because we have seen both men suffer, and we have seen how a single lightning strike can create a hero and a monster from the same raw ingredients.

The action sequences, while not high-budget, are inventive. Director Basil Joseph and cinematographer Sameer Thahir use the rural landscape: a chase through paddy fields, a fight atop a moving bus, and a brilliant sequence where Minnal Murali uses his speed to pull down a coconut tree as a makeshift weapon. The VFX are occasionally uneven, especially during the lightning effects, but the film’s heart and humour compensate for the rough edges.

Where “Minnal Murali” stumbles is in its runtime. The middle-third sags under a few too many subplots-Jaison’s abandoned romance with Usha (Shelly Kishore), Shibu’s repeated humiliations-that pad the story without deepening it. Bruce Lee Biji’s character, while amusing, feels like a caricature in a film that otherwise respects its characters’ complexity.

Yet the film’s greatest strength is its refusal to take itself too seriously. Aju Varghese as the hapless friend Pothan provides levity, but the real comedy lies in the script’s sharp observations about village life: how gossip travels faster than super-speed, how a tailor’s reputation for “tight stitches” becomes a metaphor for trust, and how the villain’s ultimate plan involves disrupting a temple festival. The final showdown, set against a chaotic boat race and a fire, is chaotic, loud, and utterly exhilarating.

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Pros

• Tovino Thomas’s dual performance-both as the cocky Jaison and the masked hero-is a career highlight.
• Gurunandan (Somasundaram) delivers a chilling, sympathetic portrayal of a villain born from trauma.
• The humour is deeply rooted in Kerala’s cultural specifics, making the film feel authentic rather than generic.
• The climax cleverly subverts superhero tropes by focusing on community action, not just individual might.
• Basil Joseph’s direction balances action, comedy, and emotion with surprising deftness.

Cons

• The 158-minute runtime includes a noticeable lull in the second act, especially around the romantic subplot.
• Some VFX sequences, particularly the early lightning strikes, feel undercooked.
• The supporting cast (Harisree Ashokan’s inspector, Vasisht Umesh’s Josemon) are underutilised in the second half.
• The final villain’s motivations, although clear, could have benefitted from more screen time before the climax.

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“Minnal Murali” is not just a superhero movie-it is a love letter to the idea that a hero can be a small-town tailor who argues with his mother, steals his neighbour’s bananas, and still saves the day. It understands that power is meaningless without a moral compass, and that the most terrifying villain is often the one society abandoned. For all its flaws-the runtime, the shaky CGI-the film succeeds brilliantly in making you care about these characters. When Jaison finally dons that red-and-yellow mask, you cheer not because of the special effects but because you have seen him stumble, fall, and choose to stand up for others.

Is it a perfect film? No. Is it one of the most entertaining and culturally specific superhero films India has produced? Absolutely. “Minnal Murali” strikes like lightning, and it leaves a mark.

Score: 8/10
Streaming on Netflix (as of 2026). Check local availability.