Malayalam News

A Homegrown Superhero Tovino Thomas Features In The ‘Minnal Murali’ First Look

By Aparajitha Balu

The first look posters of Tovino Thomas starrer Minnal Murali dropped on Tuesday evening. The movie helmed by Basil Joseph is being bankrolled by Sophia Paul under her Weekend Blockbusters banner that had earlier commissioned movies like Bangalore Days and Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol. The multilingual will release in five languages – Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada, thereby paving the way for Weekend Blockbusters to venture into other regional languages.

The first look poster features an in-action Tovino in a black shirt and white dhoti with a red scarf serving as a full face mask. He also seems to be holding a tiny notebook in his hand. In the backdrop, we find the outline of an unknown man and inside it, can be found men armed with flame torches beside a lake. Fire can also be seen across the lake and on a boat inside the lake.

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Tovino took to Twitter to release the posters.

While the film has been titled Minnal Murali in Malayalam and Tamil, the Hindi version is Mister Murali, the Kannada version is Minchu Murali, and the Telugu version is Merupu Murali. The film has reportedly been made on a high budget.

Touted to be a superhero flick, the team has roped in Sameer Thahir for the camera, Shaan Rahman for music, Manu Manjith for penning lyrics, Baahubali fame Manu Jagadh for art, and Livingston Mathew for editing. Hollywood action director Vlad Rimburg, who has been a part of films like Will Smith‘s Gemini Man, The Last Witch Hunter, Netflix’s original series Lucifer, Baahubali 2, and Salman Khan‘s Sultan, has handled the stunt for Minnal Murali. While Melwy J has designed costumes, the special design for the superhero costume has been done by Deepali Noor.

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Months back, right-wing groups had demolished the sets of a church constructed for the film in Kaalady claiming that it was done because it was near a temple and was constructed illegally without the necessary permission. The wrecking caused hardship to Tovino, Sofia Paul, and Basil as the set was crucial to the film and had a huge amount splurged on its construction. Tovino had said in a statement that the Minnal Murali team had decided to go ahead with legal proceedings against the religious fanatics.

Read: Hindutva Groups Demolish Sets Of Church Built For Tovino Thomas Starrer ‘Minnal Murali’

Also Read: Decided To Go Ahead With Legal Proceedings: Tovino Thomas On Hindutva Groups’ Destruction of ‘Minnal Murali’ Sets

The film shot entirely in Kerala features actors Guru Somasundaram, Aju Varghese, Femina George, Sneha Babu, Shelly Nabu Kumar, P Balachandran, Baiju Santhosh, Surjith, Harisree Ashokan, Mamukkoya, Bijukuttan, and many others in important roles.

The teaser of the film will drop in all five languages on Monday, on the occasion of Onam. The team will have actors Prithviraj and Fahadh Faasil launching the Malayalam original teaser.

Tovino’s first production venture, Kilometres and Kilometres, starring himself will skip a theatrical release and have a direct television premiere on Asianet on Monday too. It’s a comedy film directed by Jeo Baby of 2 Pennkuttikal fame.

Aparajitha Balu is a Alum at Silverscreen India, and can be reached by email at aparajitha@silverscreen.in