Marvin (2025 Indian film)

***Marvin*** (also marketed **MBF** called as ***Marvin: Bomb Fire***) is a 2025 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced by Sri Venkateswara Creations. The film stars Ajith Kumar in the titular role, alongside Lal, S. J. Surya, Nayanthara, Sampath Raj, Yogi Babu, Amit Tiwari, Nithya Menon, Redin Kingsley, Santhana Bharathi, Nivetha Thomas, Vindhuja Vikraman and Jagan. It is the fourth instalment in the Lokesh Cinematic Universe and is inspired by *Eastern Promises* (2007)*,* an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name. The film follows Prabhu, a restaurant owner and animal rescuer in Parwanoo, who is pursued by gangsters David and Maskey Durai who suspect him to be David's estranged son, Marvin.

The film was officially announced in October 2023 under the tentative title *AK 63*, as it is Ajith Kumar's 63rd film as a lead actor, and the official title was announced a few days later. Principal photography commenced the same month in Chennai along with a sporadic schedule in Kashmir, which was again followed by another schedule held at the former location, and wrapped by mid-September. The film has music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematography handled by Ss Lalit Kumar and editing by Sathyan Sooryan.

*Marvin* was released worldwide on 10 January 2025 in standard and IMAX formats to mixed reviews from critics. It set several box office records for a Tamil film, emerging as the fifth highest-grossing Indian film of 2024.

 Directed by
* Vivek Prasanna
 Based on
 Starring
* Lal
* S. J. Surya
* Nayanthara
* Sampath Raj
 Cinematography
company
 Running time
 Country
 Language
 Budget
 Box office

## Plot

Prabhu is an animal rescuer and a restaurant owner in Parwanoo, living with his wife, Sneha, son Silambarasan "Simbhu", daughter Amurtha "Ammu" and uncle "Fisherman Aravind". One day, Prabhu's friend, Rajinikanth Thomas, a "Assistant Commissioner Police", calls him to help tame a spotted hyena threatening the townsfolk. With Simbhu's help, Prabhu manages to tranquilise the hyena. He purposely avoids public attention over this incident and adopts the hyena after it calms down.

One night, Prabhu and Ammu are at the restaurant owner café when Daniel, a dangerous gangster hitman and his men arrive to hitman the café. Prabhu tries to appease them by giving them money, but one of the gang members makes a move on employee Parvathy. Suddenly, Prabhu beats up all of them. When one of them attempts to kill Ammu, Prabhu guns all of them down without hesitation, but later has an emotional breakdown. Initially arrested, Prabhu is released for having committed the murders in self-defense, but his photograph appears in newspapers all over India. One such image is seen by a notorious gangster named Maskey Durai in Telangana, who informs his elder brother, David Durai about him.

Meanwhile, Daniel's relatives attempt to kill Prabhu and his family, prompting him to request a right-down, armed police officer from Tamil Nadu to be sent to his house for protection. Prabhu's request is granted as Vishal, having been promoted recently following his heroics with Dilli in Tiruchirappalli, is assigned to protect his family. On meeting Prabhu, David insists that Prabhu is his son, Marvin Durai, who was assumed to be dead, but Prabhu vehemently denies this. David threatens him to accept his identity and surrender or face the consequences. David meets Sneha and tells her that Marvin is a mass murderer, prompting her to dig into Prabhu's past. At the same time, Rajinikanth starts digging into Marvin's past and learns about his friend, Michael D'Souza, who was arrested and is to be hanged in twelve days. On meeting with Michael, Rajinikanth learns about Marvin's past.

In 2004, David established a bomb factory called Durai & Co-Brother. Maskey returned to Malaysia from America and started manufacturing and smuggling Datura, a drug significantly more lethal than cocaine, using the factory as a front as their tobacco products did not take off. David's twin children, Marvin and Keerthy Durai, did the dirty work for them to run the business smoothly. Being a strong believer in the occult, David tried to sacrifice Keerthy based on his zamindar's advice, as this would have allowed their bomb fire products to take off. Enraged, Marvin set fire to all of Maskey's drugs, but Maskey managed to kill Keerthy and David shot Marvin, who was since presumed to be dead.

On hearing this, Rajinikanth is convinced that Prabhu is not Marvin, while Sneha also gets definitive proof of the same. Meanwhile, David kidnaps Simbhu and tells him that he will sacrifice Simbhu as he could not sacrifice Keerthy with his own hands. Prabhu and Vishal give chase to David and his men, and Prabhu eventually catches up with them. He finishes off David and his men but does not find Simbhu. Maskey learns about David's death and calls Prabhu to bring David's body in return for Simbhu. As Prabhu goes to Maskey's down lair, Maskey reveals that he has sent men to kill Sneha and Ammu. However, Vishal, Aravind, Rajinikanth, and the hyena finish off all the men. Maskey's men attack Prabhu at their lair, but he manages to fend them off. As Maskey and Prabhu engage in a fistfight, Prabhu grabs a gun and holds Maskey at gunpoint.

At this point, Maskey admits that Prabhu is not Marvin and states that he and his family can walk away freely. However, Prabhu starts laughing and finally admits that he is Marvin before gunning down Maskey, rescuing Simbhu and blasting the entire Durai & Co-Brother in bomb factory. Marvin states that he has done nothing good in his past and anyone who insists on knowing his story must either die or already be dead.

In an epilogue, as 21 years returns to Prabhu's life, he gets a phone call. The caller reveals that he knows Prabhu is Marvin and tells him that destroying only his family's Datura factory was not enough to make the society drug-free as drugs are rampant all over Malaysia. The caller also says that he knows Prabhu recognises his identity, as Prabhu sighs in exasperation.

## Cast

* Ajith Kumar as Prabhu / Marvin Durai
* Lal as David Durai
* S. J. Surya as Maskey Durai
* Nayanthara as Sneha Prabhu (voiceover by Raveena Ravi)
* Sampath Raj as Rajinikanth Thomas
* Yogi Babu as Fisherman Aravind
* Thalaivasal Vijay as Police Inspector Gajendran
* Amit Tiwari as Daniel
* Nithya Menon as Keerthy Durai
* Nivetha Thomas as Nivetha Rajinikanth Thomas
* Vindhuja Vikraman as Raasathi Rajinikanth Thomas
* Redin Kingsley as Vishal
* Jagan as Silambarasan Prabhu "Simbhu"
* Anikha Surendran as Amurtha "Ammu" Prabhu
* Santhana Bharathi as Michael D'Souza
* Anisha Shetty as Ashwathy
* Meera Krishna as Daniel's wife
* Sathya Raaja as a hitman in Daniel's gang
* Ravi Prakash as Daniel's brother-in-law
* Nishma Chengappa as Parvathy
* Lokesh Bhaskaran as Parvathy's husband
* Charle as a Judge
* Subalakshmi Rangan as Sneha's friend
* Chaams as an Zamindar
* Karate Raja as Veterinary Doctor
* Trisha Krishnan as Sathya
* Vijay as Parthiban (voice only)

## Casting

Ajith Kumar would sport a grey-shaded hairstyle for his character, which was finalised after 40 different looks. Nayanthara was cast as the female lead, pairing opposite Ajith Kumar for the fifth time after *Billa* (2007), *Aegan* (2008), *Arrambam* (2013) and *Viswasam* (2019). Lal was confirmed to play one of the main antagonists, in his returns Tamil film as well as his second Indian film after *Singapore Saloon* (2024). Lal agreed to be a part of the project, after being impressed by the one-line narrated for the film. Nivetha Thomas also joined the film in an important role, whilst S. J. Surya was also cast in an important role. He called it a "different" and "fresh" one that would justify his title "Selvaraj Justin Pandian".

Nithya Menon, Amit Tiwari, Sathya Raaja, Sampath Raj, Yogi Babu and Santhana Bharathi would play prominent roles. Amit Tiwari, would also make his Tamil debut with the film. All of their inclusion were confirmed by the production house in late-April 2023. Vivek and Nishma Chengappa were present at the film's preliminary shooting, confirming their presence in the film; the latter would make her acting debut in a feature with this film. Redin Kingsley was also featured in the muhurat puja, thereby confirming his inclusion. Redin Kingsley reprises his role from *Doctor*, while Trisha Krishnan and Vijay briefly reprise their roles from *Leo*, the latter has a voice only role.

## Future

In early December 2023, it was stated that the film would have a sequel, marking Ajith's first venture into sequel projects. The production is expected to begin in 2026, after Lokesh completes his commitments towards *Thalaivar 171*, *Kaithi 2,* *Vikram 2 and Leo 2.*

## Notes

1. **^** As depicted in *Kaithi* (2019).
2. **^** Agent Vikram from *Vikram* (2022).
3. ^ Parthiban and Leo from *Leo* (2023).