Kozhikode city looks eerie in the night, dark with yellow lit windows from high rise buildings splattered everywhere. A girl runs through a street chased by a man in a black hoodie. She calls out the name of ‘Super Mamu’, a superhero in Kozhikode city, and from the top of a building flies a man wearing a Spiderman-like costume and a blue cape. He lands with a thud, and says ‘Allaah’. The voice is very familiar to lovers of Malayalam movies.
It is an animated ad to a restaurant, featuring a Malayalam superhero in the form of actor Mamukkoya. The villain, who has caught hold of the girl looks like Saikumar, another actor in Malayalam films. Super Mamu calls him Balakrishna, the way Mamukkoya famously called Saikumar’s character in the popular film Ramji Rao Speaking.
The conversation between them is in Malappuram dialect, with Super Mamu uttering words like ‘hamukku’. But just as the villain mentions his ransom, an alarm rings reminding Mamu of his dinner and he flies off to Aadaaminte Chayakada’s Xpress Counter, munches a chicken dish in a jiffy and comes back. A quick fight later, he flies away with the girl and she asks, “How did you eat so fast?”
The ad is for the new counter that the restaurant, popular among locals and tourists alike for its food and interiors, is opening in Karaparamba.
Mamukkoya, a veteran who has done mostly comic characters in Malayalam cinema, is a revered figure in Kerala. He has in recent years become the face of a song series called 'Native Bapa' by director and writer Muhsin Parari, on being the father of a son who is accused of being a terrorist.
There has not been a superhero movie in Malayalam so far, and the upcoming film Minnal Murali is the first. Tovino Thomas is to play the superhero lead in the film.
Watch the superhero ad:
Watch the actor behind the cape say his wishes: