In conversation with the young cast of the Malayalam film, ‘Mura’

Young cast in Muhammed Musthafa’s Mura shines with raw talent and energy

Muhammed Musthafa’s Mura, with all its tropes of a gangster drama — revenge, high-end action and bloodshed, may have bagged mixed reviews at the box office. However, the cast, especially the crop of young and new faces, has come in for unanimous praise.

The riveting narrative, set in Thiruvananthapuram, is about four college dropouts from underprivileged backgrounds — Anandu, Manaf, Manu and Siju. The roles are essayed by Hridhu Haroon, Anujith Kannan, Yedhu Krishnan and Jobin Das respectively, all of them natives of Thiruvananthapuram.

The foursome choose to work for a criminal gang led by Ani (Suraj Venjaramoodu), the trusted aide of Rema (Maala Parvathy).

The youngsters take up a high-risk task — stealing black money from a warehouse in Madurai, hoping it would ensure a better future for them. Two young men from the area, Malar (Krish Hassan) and Sitru (Vigneshwar Suresh), join them on the mission. But the heist has unforeseen consequences.

Currently, the boys are busy visiting theatres and enjoying the adulation coming their way. “It is overwhelming,” say the actors having excelled as the street-smart, impulsive, hot-headed bad boys with their unbridled energy, especially in the action sequences.

While Hridhu, Krish and Vigneshwar have worked in a few films, Anujith, Yedhu and Jobin are debutants. Musthafa says, “When we placed the casting call, we got over 6,000 entries. We picked applicants who belong to Thiruvananthapuram since the story is set there. We then narrowed it down to around 200 aspirants. But we couldn’t find apt actors from that list. So the team went around to colleges and acting schools looking for talents,” says the director.

For example, Anujith, currently pursuing his final year under graduation in Islamic History at University College in Thiruvananthapuram, was picked from his own campus. “Our team held an audition at the college. Those who turned up had to act out a scene that showed conflict and Anujith impressed us,” Musthafa says.