Tailor-made: From Kerala, a superhero to save the day

Why does Minnal Murali feel so distinctly Indian? What did it take to make it on such a small budget, and why does the world still crave superhero tales to begin with? Excerpts from an interview with director Basil Joseph.

What makes for a great Indian superhero? It took Basil Joseph three years to perfect Minnal Murali. The 2021 film follows a small-town tailor, Jaison (Tovino Thomas), who dreams of making it to the US, where he’s been told the demand for tailors is high. Instead, he is struck by lightning, develops super-strength and super-speed (among other things), and must now defend his close-knit town from a supervillain named Shibu (Guru Somasundaram), an outcast also struck by lightning and now on the rampage.

‘We knew the rivalry couldn’t be a personal affair. It had to be the villain against the village, and the hero coming in to save the village,’ Joseph says.

Minnal Murali is a rare gem in a country of surprisingly few superhero films, even fewer good ones, and almost none made on a small budget. Even in the film, the tailor is strapped for cash. He stitches his own red-and-gold suit, with touching care. He has no fancy cars or gadgets, but wins the support of Bijimol, a martial arts teacher whom he slowly falls in love with, and has a town that cheers him on.

It makes one a little sad for the lonely Western superheroes that can’t even show their faces. That’s exactly what he was going for, says Joseph, 31. Excerpts from an interview.

‘In Minnal Murali, I wanted to create a superhero film that didn’t borrow at all from the West,’ says Basil Joseph.

Beyond the aesthetic, how did you make Minnal Murali feel so distinctly Indian?

In a Western movie, the villain gets superpowers and plots a crime. We felt that might not work here because there needed to be a solid reason for an Indian man to go up against his village. In this case, it’s bitterness because Shibu has been tagged as “crazy” by his village, and the village is the reason he loses the love of his life.

We knew the rivalry had to be convincingly evolved too. It couldn’t be a personal affair. It had to be the villain against the village, and the hero coming in to save the village.

We could have gone with a villain who was just greedy, but it would not have convinced the Kerala viewer, especially since the genre is new to Malayalam cinema. Also, it wouldn’t have made for an original viewing experience.

Why a superhero film at all?

Partly, I wanted to make a superhero film that didn’t borrow at all from the West. And partly I wanted to prove, even to myself, that it could be done on a very small-scale budget. There is a myth that superhero films are difficult to make because they require so many special effects and fancy action sequences. Minnal Murali forms a connection with the audience through the characters, rather than spending money on VFX and action.

Why do you think there is still such demand for superhero stories?

We’ve seen, over and over in real life, that nobody is a hero or a villain; it’s society that makes them so. Shibu, for instance, is not insane but is treated as crazy by his community. The hero is not always altruistic; he wishes to leave Kerala and travel to America, but ultimately decides to stay and serve his people. Superhero stories remind us that even if we can’t always be heroes, we all have a hero within.