Anamotta AAnamotta

Excellent movie! Minnal Murali is one of the first superhero films from Indian cinema. Needless to say, there is a huge risk associated with bringing such movies in front of Indian audience. While it is an exceptional film that delivers what it promises, there could be a variety of mixed reactions. The biggest plus of the movie is the story. There have not been many tightly integrated, well written stories in Malayalam movies for a long time. The story flows smoothly and logically, and there is not a moment in the movie when you doubt the amount of thought process that went into the movie. The story sets the grand stage for the actors and cameramen to fill in the rest, which they do so perfectly. All the actors, not only the hero and the villain, have done their jobs beautifully. The parts where they discover their own powers were hilarious, and I laughed like a child in these places. Every second of the movie is engaging, and you never lose grip of the movie. The villain Shibu, hands down, is outstanding. You love and hate the villain at the same time. You sympathize for him, and fear him at the same time. There is definitely a Joker touch in the villain. Shibu is not a villain by birth. It is the circumstances, and the kind of treatment that he gets from others, that leads to his transformation. There is a saying, if you want to know the true nature of a person, give him/her power. This is exactly how the hero becomes a hero, and the villain becomes a villain. Unfortunately, the whole villain story felt like giving powers to an innocent man, waiting for him to misuse it, and then killing him because of that. The writers could have definitely done a better job here. They could’ve made the villain either a proper all out evil villain; or, even better, not demonized him and killed him off simply like the way they have done now. In my opinion, the hero could have just used his powers to win over the villain, and instead of killing him off, he could give him a warning or some enlightenment. The villain character connected emotionally so well with us, and it feels sad to see him go so soon. Maybe, I don’t know, like Joker, this villain would inspire new Shibu’s in the future sequels? I don’t know. The characters played by Aju Varghese, and the other police officers, were not utilized fully, in my opinion. They had some very good scenes, but were not visible anywhere after the first half. These however, in no way diminishes the excellence of this movie. It just frustrates me because this, was so close to being a perfect movie. And the best thing about movies like these, are the sequels. You can correct the mistakes in the sequel. All in all, the movie is definitely worth if you watch with a light heart (just forget about the values for some time). And definitely, the fine details, camera, vfx, bgm, direction, …everything else, is on another level, for a movie in Malayalam. I just hope that the sequel brings back Shibu from death somehow. You know, maybe the spear missed his vital organs… or like Shibu has an undiscovered power of immortality… I don’t know. That would be nice!