Minnal Murali

Jaison, a tailor in a small town in Kerala, is struck by lightning and gains extraordinary speed and strength. The same lightning strikes someone else the same night: Shibu, a man in the town nobody has ever taken seriously. Both gain power, but one becomes the hero and the other the villain. What makes the difference is not the power but who is loved. The film is not interested in the superhero template. It is interested in neglect turning into harm: it refuses to make Shibu an easy enemy, builds his story too, and leaves the audience divided. Small-town Kerala is not scenery either; it is the story. The form is genre cinema built from local material: narrow streets, the church, the tea shop, the bus. The action is not big-budget but the choreography is clear. Basil Joseph directed. The film counts as the first major superhero production in Malayalam cinema and was praised for setting the genre in a local texture rather than imitating Hollywood. It was released on Netflix in December 2021 and found a wide audience outside India too. Tovino Thomas plays Jaison and Guru Somasundaram plays Shibu. Somasundaram's work is the most discussed thing in it. Who it is for: viewers who like superhero films and South Indian cinema. Who it is not for: anyone wanting speed. The film is long, the middle drags and the town's side stories delay the main line at times.