Of the 2 superhero movies I watched this weekend, the Marvel one, in an established universe, isn't my favorite. That's how good Minnal Murali is. Kudos to Basil Joseph for making a fantastic superhero origin story. I'm just happy that we finally have a proper superhero movie of our own (though, to be fair, 'Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota' was a decent attempt). Sushin Shyam's background score complements the movie perfectly, so do his and Shaan Rahman's songs. Tovino Thomas as Jaison/Minnal Murali is charming, funny, and 'superheroic', yet grounded. He captures the cockiness and vulnerability of Jaison in equal measure. The rest of the supporting cast is great as well.

As with most great superhero movies, it's the villain who steals the show. Guru Somasundaram as Shibu is innocent and menacing in equal parts. The writers, Arun Arindhan and Justin Mathew, play a tug of war with us getting us to sympathize and despise him when least expected.

The VFX is a bit below par, but that is to be expected given the budget. The story does lag at times, but the good parts more than make up it.

The small homages to Superman and Batman are nice touches.

I sincerely hope that #MinnalMurali teaches Indian creators that superhero movies are more than just heavy VFX and awesome fights and encourages them to wade into the genre.