Round up of 2024

With the growing prominence of the OTT platforms especially after the pandemic, the interest for Malayalam movies have increased manifold. However unlike before, the OTT honchos are pretty peculiar as to which movies they want to invest on & beam on their platforms. This essentially meant that out of the 204 movies that were released (199) & re-released (5), only 26 of them managed to recover their costs. 

Among those that managed to bring a smile to their investors, “Manjummel Boys” became the first Malayalam flick to breach the 200C mark with “Aadujeevitham”, “Aavesham”, “Premalu” & “ARM” bringing in ample footfalls which yielded more than 100C each. The cumulative profits was to the tune of 300C but with the total investment being about 1000C, it meant that the industry saw a humongous loss of about 700C which raises serious queries as to long it will be able to sustain itself. At the same time, it's encouraging that all type of genres are working which emphasizes the point that if the movie has quality, then we will accept it with open arms.

Anyway among the ones that I had watched (around 70), the ten movies that I rated higher than the rest are mentioned below. Since I have already penned my opinion about what I liked about these flicks, please feel free to check out my blog if interested

·         Bramayugam  

·         Aattam

·         Aadujeevitham

·         Ullozhukku

·         Kishkindha Kaandam

·         Sookshamadarshini

·         Manjummel Boys

·         Anweshippin Kandethum

·         ARM

·         Gaganachari

Coming to performances, there were quite a few standout ones that I absolutely enjoyed. With most flicks barely having meaty roles for female artists, it would be fair to say that didn’t have much opportunity to showcase their caliber unlike their male counterparts.

Mammookka: In a career that has spanned close to half a century, the legend has never ceased to amaze & as Kodumon Potty, he has taken it to a whole new level. 'Brilliant' will be an understatement as I believe this is undoubtedly one of his finest.

Urvashi: I personally consider her as the finest actress to have ever graced Malayalam movies & as Leelamma in ‘Ullozhukku’, the legend gave a power packed performance which kept us completely invested in the story. Even in ‘Her’, the main redeeming factor for it was her role as Santha & the chemistry that she shared with Prathap Pothen which gave that segment an authentic feel.

Prithvi: Produced his career best performance in a role where the physical and emotional transformation that he brought to the character was sensational which was reflected in his gait, eyes and even in his dialogue delivery

Kani Kusruthi: Though ‘All We Imagine As Light’ did not quite strike a chord with me, the manner in which she had played the role of Prabha was impressive. Her subtle performance that showcased the inner turmoil, helplessness & anxiety which made the character reluctant to seek for liberalisation was praise worthy.

There were a host of other impressive performances as well such as Vijayaraghavan in ‘Kishkindha Kaandham’, Fahadh in ‘Aavesham’, Lalettan in "Malaikottai Vaaliban", Asif Ali in all the three movies he featured which was quite unique to each other, Parwathy in ‘Ullozhokku’ & Tovino as Maniyan in ‘ARM’.

Anyway looking forward to 2025 & from the list of projects that has been announced so far, it certainly looks like exciting times for the industry & for movie lovers!!!

Regards...Ben