Minnal Murali (Eng: Lightning Murali) is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language superhero film directed by Basil Joseph and produced by Sophia Paul, under the banner of Weekend Blockbusters. The screenplay has been written by Arun Anirudhan and Justin Mathew. The film stars Tovino Thomas and Guru Somasundaram. The story follows the life of Jaison, a young tailor who gains superpowers after being struck by lightning, and transforms into a superhero.
In 1990s, Jaison, A young tailor from the village of Kurukkanmoola, is in dreams of building a career in the US. SI Saajan forbids Jaison’s relationship with his daughter Bincy, as she is already engaged to Aneesh. Aneesh’s ex-girlfriend Bruce Lee Biji is also enraged that Aneesh had broken up with her. Meanwhile, Shibu is a social outcast, who works in a teashop and he was waiting 28 years for the returning of his childhood sweetheart Usha, who is also the sister of Daasan. Daasan works in Jaison’s and his father Varkey’s tailor shop. Usha has a daughter, who needs an urgent medical operation, but she does not have that much cash for the operation. On Christmas Eve, a lightning bolt simultaneously strikes Jaison, who is arguing with Saajan, and Shibu, who is stalking Usha. Jaison is rushed to the hospital, but to everyone’s surprise, he is seemingly unharmed. In the following days, Jaison and Shibu show signs of superpowers. Jaison’s nephew, Josemon, comes to the conclusion that Jaison gained superpowers after being hit by the lightning.
Usha comes to Shibu’s teashop where the owner flirt with Usha. Shibu is enraged and threatens him with his new telekinetic powers, asking him to stay away from her. Meanwhile, Jaison’s plans to leave to the US come to an unexpected halt after his passport verification doesn’t go through after Saajan meddles with it and also reveals that Varkey is not Jaison’s father and his real father is Martin, a theatre actor who died while Jaison was young when the set of the village play caught fire. Varkey saw the young Jaison and felt pity for him, raising Jaison as his own son. Jaison is heartbroken after hearing the news. Varkey tells Jaison that he didn’t reveal the truth earlier as he feared that Jaison would abandon him and his father helped everyone in the village and died for the sake of village. Jaison realizes that Saajan had hit Varkey and is enraged. With the help of Josemon, Jaison disguises himself with a mask and goes to Josemon’s school’s anniversary where many policemen, including Saajan and Pothan, are present as the security for the chief guest.
Jaison, wearing the costume, attacks Saajan and the policeman including Biji, who tried to stop him. He writes the name Minnal Murali on the front curtain of the stage the anniversary event was held, which was named after a character in Martin’s unfinished play. Usha’s daughter faints and is taken to the hospital. The doctor tells Usha that her daughter needs to start the operation on her now or else she might die. Shibu learns of this and disguise himself as Minnal Murali and robs the local bank at the same time when Jaison attacked Saajan. When Shibu provides the money to the hospital, He learns that Daasan had already paid for it. Meanwhile, Siby Pothan, Jaison’s brother-in-law finds out that Jaison is Minnal Murali, but Saajan does not believe him. Jaison had been saving money that was given by his sister for applying for visa, keeping it in his tailor shop, but it was stolen by Daasan. Jaison gives a deadline to Daasan that he should bring him the money back before evening.
Meanwhile, Usha slowly warms up to Shibu, but Daasan rejects him. Jaison realizes his mistake and goes to Daasan to apologize. Shibu comes to Jaison’s store and accused Daasan of being the obstacle between his and Usha’s relationship and burns down the store, killing Daasan, and then blames Minnal Murali for the crime. Jaison reveals to Biji that he is Minnal Murali. Biji and Josemon decide to help Jaison prove to the villagers that he is not the one who robbed the bank and killed Daasan while also finding the imposter. The police and Jaison view footage of the store on the night when Daasan died, at the police station to check the identity of ‘Minnal Murali,’ but the power goes out the exact moment they are about to find Shibu. Shibu, wearing a mask, ambushes the police station in an attempt to destroy the video, the only evidence to show that he is the impostor, but Jaison as Minnal Murali attacks him and steals the video cassette.
Jaison and Shibu fight at the moving bus, where Shibu bests Jaison due to him having telekinesis, which Jaison does not have. Shibu destroys the cassette and escapes. However, in the altercation, the bus driver hits his head and dies, which leads to the bus not stopping before reaching the edge of a cliff, dangling precariously off of it, but Jaison saves the bus, which gains him a few villagers’s respect. Jaison and Shibu start investigating and they learn about each other’s identity. Saajan and the force arrive to arrest Shibu as they learn that Shibu is the impersonator, but Shibu scares them away. Pothan finds a picture of Minnal Murali and shows it to Saajan. Saajan believes Pothan’s findings and Pothan arrests Jaison. Usha comes to Shibu’s house and realizes Shibu’s love for her and reciprocates it. Shibu sees a mob outside his home and tries to stop them, but unknown to Shibu, his house slowly catches on fire. A barrel full of firecrackers catch fire, causing his house to explode, killing Usha and her daughter and injuring Shibu.
A grief-stricken and psychotic Shibu, goes to a church and kills people while trapping others, including Josemon, planning to burn them alive as vengeance. The police is alerted about the situation, and Saajan releases Jaison as he realizes that Jaison is the only one who can stop Shibu. Jaison wears a supersuit, goes to the church, and confronts Shibu. Jaison succumbs to Shibu’s telekinesis once again, but Jaison has second wind after remembering his father and his sacrifice for the village and villagers, awakening his own telekinesis powers. Jaison and Shibu clash again, ending in Jaison impaling Shibu with a spear, killing Shibu instantly. While saddened over his death, Jaison finally gets appreciation from the villagers, while Biji puts out the fire. In a voice-over, Jaison tells that more monsters will arrive in the future, but Minnal Murali will be there to protect the villagers.
Directed by Basil Joseph
Written by Arun Anirudhan & Justin Mathew
Produced by Sophia Paul
Starring Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram, Aju Varghese
Cinematography Sameer Thahir
Edited by Livingston Mathew
Music by Sushin Shyam & Shaan Rahman
Production Weekend Blockbusters
Distributed by Netflix
Release dates 16 December 2021 (Mumbai Film Festival) 24 December 2021 (Netflix)
Running time 159 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
