India, Sept. 5 -- Malayalam film Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra has done the impossible. It has created space for a female superhero to exist in the blatantly testosterone-charged genre of superhero films in India. There is no male hero to save the day. Here, she is just a girl who wants nothing of the bravado or attention that comes with taking charge of the action. It is a clutter-breaking piece of work, one that has a killer storytelling instinct.

She is Chandra, played with firm poise by Kalyani Priyadarshan. Her hair is dyed in streaks of red, and her ensemble is almost always black-form-fitted tops and pants. Co-written by Dominic Arun and Santhy Balachandran, Chandra is not the usual superhero. The emphasis is not on showing off how she...