From 'Pushpa' to 'Minnal Murali', the rise of the pan-Indian film

When OTT took off in 2016, the possibilities for crossing over exploded

Basil Joseph’s Minnal Murali (Malayalam) is a sweet, unusual, superhero film. On Christmas eve, Jaison, a tailor, and Shibu, an outcast in a village in Kerala, are struck by lightning. They develop superhero powers causing havoc in their lives and those of the villagers. Within a few days of its release on Netflix in December 2021, Minnal Murali hit the top 10 charts in 30 countries including India, Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore. “It truly broke out pan-India and globally,” says Pratiksha Rao, director, original films and licensing, Netflix India.

What Minnal Murali did online, Allu Arjun-starrer