User:DinSolo/Bravo

Plot

In the 1990s, Jaison, a young tailor from the village of Kurukkanmoola, dreams of building a career in the United States. However, his plans are hindered by obstacles in his personal life. SI Saajan forbids Jaison's relationship with his daughter as she is engaged. Meanwhile, Shibu, a social outcast working in a teashop, harbors feelings toward his childhood sweetheart Usha, who holds him in contempt. Usha has a daughter, who needs an urgent medical operation but lacks sufficient money. Daasan who is Usha’s brother works in Jaison's and his father Varkey's tailor shop, and is also contemptuous towards Shibu.

On Christmas Eve, a lightning bolt simultaneously strikes Jaison and Shibu, granting them telekinetic superpowers. Jaison's nephew Josemon, asserts to him that the lightning has granted him the abilities. Jaison and Shibu acknowledge their superpowers and tame them to their advantage. Using his newfound abilities, Shibu intervenes when Usha is harassed at the teashop with the intention of earning her affection. Meanwhile, Jaison's plans to relocate get halted when Saajan meddles and reveals a family secret: Jaison is not Varkey's biological son, but rather the son of Martin, a deceased theater actor. Feeling betrayed, Jaison seeks revenge.

Disguised as Minnal Murali, a character from Martin's unfinished play, Jaison attacks Saajan and others at an event leaving behind clues that point to his implication. Meanwhile unbeknownst to Jaison, Daasan covers the cost of Usha’s daughter’s surgery by stealing the money Jaison has saved for his visa application, which was kept in his tailor shop. Unaware of this development, Shibu robs a bank to raise funds. Upon discovering his missing earnings, Jaison confronts and rebukes Daasan at the tailor shop, warning him to return the money before evening. Jaison departs with rage and sorrow, while Daasan is left with remorse. Later that day, in a fit of anger, Shibu confronts and kills Daasan for being an obstacle in his relationship with Usha and for rendering his bank-robbing efforts ineffectual. He then burns down Jaison's store and frames Minnal Murali for the death of Daasan and the theft of the bank.

Jaison confides in Biji, a friend about his alter ego and seeks help to clear his name. Together with Josemon they attempt to prove his innocence. The police identify Shibu as the impostor but he evades capture leading to a confrontation between him and Jaison on a crowded bus. During their confrontation the driver dies, and the bus hangs perilously over a cliff which Jaison saves earning the villagers' respect. As tensions escalate Shibu's obsession with Usha culminates in tragedy when her house explodes, killing her and her daughter. Grief-stricken Shibu seeks vengeance terrorizing a church congregation and trapping Josemon and others. The police enlist Jaison's help recognizing him as the only one capable of stopping Shibu.

Donning a supersuit Jaison confronts Shibu at the church. Initially overpowered Jaison taps into his inner strength remembering his father's sacrifice and defeats Shibu ending his reign of terror. Despite the loss Jaison earns the villagers' gratitude. In a voiceover Jaison pledges to protect the villagers from future threats as Minnal Murali.

Cast

• Tovino Thomas in as:
  • Jaison Varghese / Minnal Murali, a tailor who is struck by lightning and gains superpowers.
    • Awan Pookot as a Young Jaison
  • Martin Rangakala, a theatre artist and Jaison's biological father
• Guru Somasundaram as Shibu/Minnal Murali (fake), a social outcast, who works in a teashop who is also struck by lightning and gains superpowers
  • Ganesh as Young Shibu
• Aju Varghese as P. C. Siby Pothan, Jaison's brother-in-law
• Vasisht Umesh as Josemon, Jaison's nephew and Pothan's son
• Femina George as "Bruce Lee" Biji, a travel agent and a karate instructor, who is Aneesh's ex-girlfriend
• Shelly Kishore as Usha, Daasan's sister and Shibu's childhood sweetheart
• Thennal Abhilash as Appumol, Pothan's daughter
• Baiju as S.I. Sajan Antony, the head sub-inspector of Kurukanmoola and Bincy's father
• Harisree Ashokan as Daasan, a tailor who works along with Jaison and is Usha's brother
• P. Balachandran as Varkey, Jaison's foster father
• Arya Salim as Jesmi, Jaison's foster sister
• Sneha Babu as Bincy, Jaison's ex-girlfriend who later marries Aneesh
• Jude Anthany Joseph as Aneesh, Biji's ex-boyfriend who later marries Bincy
• Mamukkoya as Doctor Sambashivan
• Sudheesh as himself (cameo)
• Bijukuttan as Kunjan
• Azees Nedumangad as Chandran
• Rajesh Madhavan as P.C. Titto
• Benzi Mathews as a young Varkey
• Gibin Gopinath as P.C. Dasan
• Harish Pengan as Varieth
• Devi Chandana as Bindhu
• Syam Cargoz as Panchayat Member
• Pauly Valsan as Villager
• Vishnu Soman as Hari
• Kalabhavan Joshy as Bus Passanger
• Surjith Gopinath as Paachan
• Rohit Sangwan as Villager
• Basil Joseph as a young politician (cameo)

Production

Development

Inspired by a meme of Batman wearing a Lungi and holding a sword, writer Arun Arnirudhan pitched the idea of a local man being struck by lightning and gaining superpowers to Basil Joseph in 2018. Although Basil found the concept compelling, he was skeptical about its feasibility because of the limited reception of the superhero genre among Malayalee audiences and the budgetary constraints associated with such productions. Basil eventually encouraged Arun to draft a story along with Justin Mathew with Tovino Thomas envisioned as the titular character as Basil found him to be the ideal choice to portray the role of a superhero. Basil aimed for a comic undertone in the narrative, and wanted the story to connect emotionally with audiences even if the heroic elements were removed. He drew inspiration from the 1984 Malayalam 3D film My Dear Kuttichathan, both in production and narrative viewing it as a milestone during a period of limited productions and anticipated the production of the project would be somewhat similar to the film, requiring a paradigm shift. During the scripting phase impotence was given to CGI to prevent excessive costs during both filming and post-production as well as to explore alternative shooting methods. In an interview with The Times of India, Basil explained, "I will be working closely with the VFX team in the pre-production stage to develop the storyboards and understand what is feasible before we start shooting the movie." Scripting took a year to complete and Basil subsequently began pre-production works and script reading sessions in late October 2019.

Initial reports about the project emerged in December 2018. A month later, on 21 January 2019, Tovino confirmed the project on his birthday by releasing its concept poster via Instagram titled Minnal Murali. Sophia Paul was confirmed as the producer under her banner Weekend Blockbusters with filming scheduled to begin in December 2019.