Mura review: Musthafa is back with a well crafted action thriller backed by strong performances

Revenge is best served cold. The Malayalam movie Mura, directed by Muhammad Musthafa, follows this dictum. The movie is based on the lives of four youngsters in Thiruvananthapuram who take the path of violence.

Mura tells the story of how downtrodden people are used by powerful people in society to perpetrate violence and other crimes. The movie based in Thiruvananthapuram used the local dialect in the rural parts of the district.

Mura is Musthafa’s second movie after his well-noticed film Kappela which was released in 2021.

Synopsis

Mura revolves around a local gangster Ani (Suraj Venjaramoodu), his master Rema (Mala Parvathy) a businesswoman who owns a quarry, and the four youngsters Anandhu, Saji, Manu, and Manaf. The crux of the story is a robbery and how the youngsters get caught in the crosshairs of violence and money.

The youngsters, bad at studies end up in Ani’s gang and get involved in underworld activities. Impressed with the four, Ani puts them to work to rob black money from a hideout in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

The next part of the film deals with how the four boys try to get their fair share from Ani, and the dynamics between Ani and Reema.

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Revenge and bloodshed

Mura, as its trailer suggested, has a lot of violence and bloodshed in it. The makers defended the gory scenes stating the story demands for it.

Moreover, Malayalam films have increased the portrayal of violence with this genre also having a good audience owing to the popularity of OTT platforms and access to international series and films.

Musthafa tried to direct a movie different from his debut Kappela, which was comparatively a small film with twists and turns.

Mura has a story written by Suresh Babu, which captures the lives of gangsters to near perfection, especially their mannerisms.

Another refreshing aspect of Mura is the portrayal of the families of the youngsters, who lead a normal life, doing odd jobs. The story seems to have taken inspiration from the recent reports from Kerala that include the gold bust and black money seizures.

While the first half dealt with setting the tone of the film, the second half focused on how the lives of the youngsters changed once involved in crime. The movie has more bloodshed towards the end with Anandhu (Hridhu Haroon) having important scenes.

Also Read: Increasing violence in Malayalam films and need for proper certification

Technical aspects

The action sequences of Mura by PC Stunts are the major highlight as it’s taken with good preparations with newcomers. The background music and a song have set the tone for this movie with high-octane action scenes.

The movie has many night scenes with the crimes happening in the nighttime. The visuals of Fazil Nasar were good and it gave a realistic approach to most of the scenes.

The director and his team have however made a quality movie in the action genre.

Performances

Mura has some good performances by the lead actors. Suraj Venjaramoodu the gang leader made an impressive performance. The actor’s body language, mannerisms, and dialogue delivery were good.

Mala Parvathy as Rema, the lady don was good to watch. A welcome change to the usual pattern of men who are portrayed as gangster chiefs. Her performance also was a commendable one especially the usage of Thiruvananthapuram dialect throughout the conversations.

Hridhu Haroon as Anandhu has a pivotal role in the movie as he takes the responsibility to take revenge. The actor who appeared in Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light as a youngster in love has a different look in Mura, and gave a strong performance.

The other boys in the movie, played by Jobin Das, Yedhu Krishna and Anujith also gave good performances.

Kani Kusruti’s role of a nurse was an interesting one but her role could have been explored more. Kannan Nayar as an accomplice of Suraj’s character also was a different one from the roles played by the actor previously.

Final take

Mura is an intense gangster film based on friendship, betrayal and crime. The movie is crafted well by Muhammed Musthafa and does justice to its genre.

(Views expressed here are personal, edited by Sumavarsha Kandula.)