Pulimurugan Movie Review: Mohanlal's Action Spectacle

Set in the fictional village of Puliyoor, the film follows Murugan (Mohanlal), a rugged, taciturn hunter who protects the community from man-eating tigers using his bare hands and traditional tools. His reputation as "Puli" Murugan is legendary, but his simple life unravels when Daddy Girija (Jagapati Babu), a suave drug lord, arrives to use the forest as a smuggling route. Seeing Murugan as a threat, Daddy frames the hero for the very tiger attacks he’s been preventing, manipulating the police and turning the village against him. With his family threatened and his innocence buried under lies, Murugan must fight both beast and man to reclaim his name. The subplot involving his younger brother Manikuttan (Vinu Mohan) and a love interest Myna (Kamalinee Mukherjee) feels bolted on, serving mostly to pile stakes onto an already overloaded screenplay.

Vysakh directs with a clear mission: make Mohanlal look like a demigod. And on that front, he succeeds spectacularly. The action sequences-designed with a raw, bone-crunching ferocity-are the film’s backbone. The climactic hand-to-paw fight with a CGI tiger is ludicrous on paper but executed with such wild commitment that it becomes oddly gripping. Mohanlal’s physicality is a marvel; at 56 during filming, he moves like a coiled spring, and his eyes convey a volcanic rage that words cannot. His dialogue delivery is minimal but impactful-when he growls, “The tiger and I are the same species,” it lands with the weight of a sledgehammer.

But the script by Udaykrishna is a mess of clichés. The villain Daddy is a cartoonish drug dealer who monologues about his “empire” while wearing designer suits in a jungle. Jagapati Babu does what he can, but the role offers no shading. The supporting cast is wasted: Suraj Venjaramoodu’s comic relief as Poongayi Sasi feels jarringly out of step with the grim tone, and Bala’s character as Shiva is just a plot device. The romance between Murugan and Myna is nonexistent-she appears in a few scenes, smiles, and is then kidnapped for motivation. It’s lazy writing.

Technically, the film is a mixed bag. Gopi Sundar’s background score is bombastic and effective, pumping adrenaline into every chase and punch. The cinematography by Shaji Kumar captures the lush Kerala forests beautifully, though the CGI tiger-a necessity for the story-has aged poorly. In 2026, it looks like a PS4 cutscene. Still, the practical stunts and Mohanlal’s own stunt work (the man reportedly did many of his own falls) keep the action grounded.

The cultural impact cannot be overstated. Pulimurugan was a phenomenon that shattered Kerala box-office records and proved Malayalam cinema could compete with Tamil and Telugu masala films on their own terms. It was a fan’s dream, but a critic’s headache. For every exhilarating moment-like Murugan’s first tiger takedown-there’s a groan-inducing one, like the song “Kaanaruluka” that pauses the narrative for no reason. The film wants to be a dark survival thriller and a family drama and a revenge saga, and it fractures under the weight.

Pros

• Mohanlal’s magnetic, physically committed performance carries the entire film.
• The action sequences are raw, intense, and creatively choreographed.
• Gopi Sundar’s score elevates key moments with thunderous energy.
• The cinematography captures the jungle’s beauty and menace effectively.
• A nostalgic landmark for Malayalam cinema’s commercial expansion.

Cons

• Weak, cartoonish villain and a cliché-ridden script.
• The CGI tiger is distractingly outdated even for 2016.
• Pacing suffers in the second half, with unnecessary songs and subplots.
• Supporting characters are underdeveloped, especially the women.
• Tonal whiplash between brutal violence and broad comedy.

Pulimurugan is a flawed beast, but it’s a beast that earned its roar. For fans of Mohanlal or anyone curious about the moment Malayalam cinema went mainstream, it’s an essential, if imperfect, watch. The film swings for the fences and connects on many hits-but also strikes out on too many easy pitches. It’s the kind of movie you watch for the star, the spectacle, and the sheer audacity of a man fighting a tiger with his fists. Just don’t expect subtlety. If you can embrace its unapologetic masala energy, you’ll leave entertained. If you can’t, you’ll see every seam in the CGI fur. On the TMDb scale of 6.169/10, I’d nudge it slightly higher to a 6.5/10-for ambition, if not execution.