It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s ‘Minnal Murali’, the South Indian superhero who took over Ain Dubai on Christmas Eve to celebrate the release of the Netflix film.
Actor Tovino Thomas and director Basil Joseph celebrated the moment when their film took over the world’s highest observation wheel on Bluewaters Island with a video montage of their superhero flick being beamed on to Ain Dubai.
Thomas and Joseph were seen celebrating with videos from the event being shared on their respective social media accounts.
The superhero film, out now on Netflix, depicts Thomas as the superhero ‘Minnal Murali’ who gains powers after being struck by a bolt of lightning. The film also stars Guru Somasundaram, Harisree Ashokan and Aju Varghese in pivotal roles. The movie has been rolled out on the streamer in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English languages.
Following the Ain Dubai flight, Joseph couldn’t contain his excitement. “Hard work always pays off, and I am so glad our labour of love is being appreciated by the audience. I am overwhelmed with the kind of response and messages I have been receiving since the launch of ‘Minnal Murali’. It’s just been a day and my social media is flooded with messages,” Joseph said in a media statement.
“No words can express how I’m feeling at the moment, it’s been a dream come true to see such a wonderful response from everyone around. Becoming ‘Minnal Murali’ was challenging but the output has been wonderful. Basil is a visionary and I’m thrilled that he trusted me with this role. I want to thank our producer Sophia Paul for backing us through this mammoth project and Netflix for taking this to the world,” Thomas added in a statement.
Produced by Weekend Blockbusters (Sophia Paul), Joseph also addressed the inevitable comparisons to Hollywood superheroes such as Marvel’s Flash, who gained his powers after a bolt of lightning strikes a case of chemicals that drenches Barry Allen.
“We knew there will be obvious comparisons of ‘Minnal Murali’ with Flash, Shazam and Gundala. During the initial stages, we were not even aware of the movie while working on our screenplay. When we started shooting, Gundala was released. We knew Flash and Shazam had lightning as the source of power. We had a completely different screenplay in place,” Joseph told the Indian Express.
“Lightning is a universal power source. In a film set in a small village in Kerala, the power source cannot be a computer system or a scientific factory or anything like that. So lightning is the best possible source as it can strike anyone. And it is also relatable. Because of that people may compare it to Flash and Shazam. But once they watch the film, I don’t think there will be any comparison. We have tried to make this film as original and unique as possible,” he added.
