Minnal Murali: Tovino Thomas wanted to play the villain in the superhero movie; the actor opens up

Mollywood’s first ever superhero movie Minnal Murali has caught everyone in awe undoubtedly. Tovino Thomas and Guru Somasundaram have managed to pull off the superhero and supervillain roles perfectly as well. Director Basil Joseph is expected to take Malayalam cinema to places with the project.

In a recent chat with The Indian Express, Basil and Tovino opened up on some of the inner layers of their movie. Tovino revealed that he was taken away by Shibu, the supervillain character due to his strong emotional core. He said that he wanted to play the character first. In fact, he had asked Basil if he could play Shibu. But he let go of the desire when Basil told him about the plans for the Minnal Murali franchise. He said that he was aware of the villain character getting more acclaim during the film’s shooting.

The duo explained that the core narrative idea of Minnal Murali is mental illness and the social stigma and lack of awareness associated with it. Though there are many examples of ordinary people turning evil after society’s indifference in Hollywood superhero movies, Basil said his characters are homegrown, just like Minnal Murali.

Basil further gave insights into Shibu’s character and explained how the society played a major role in turning him into a dangerous person. The loner man has been mistreated by people in the village for years until he loses his self confidence and compassion. When he got the superpowers, he turned out to be quite a confident person. “Shibu indulges in various crimes because he is mentally ill. He acts in a bizarre manner because he has been treated like an outcast,” Basil said.

Tovino also has a take on Shibu’s character, and he thinks at some point the movie’s real villains are the people around him. However, he also is of the opinion that Shibu’s actions cannot be justified, which is why the superhero had to wage a war against him.

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Minnal Murali was released on December 24 last year on Netflix, and is available to stream online.