Director's act

Established Malayalam filmmakers and writers are taking up lead roles

- NIRMAL JOVIAL

In Indian film industries, there is a prevailing belief that pan-India success is reserved for mega-budget films featuring larger-than-life characters capable of executing extreme action. The monumental, nationwide success of Tollywood’s epic film Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) laid the foundation for this notion. Post-pandemic, Malayalam cinema gained significant traction and appreciation across India, thanks to its content-driven offerings on OTT platforms. However, attempts by the industry to crack the pan-India success code by emulating the style-over-substance formula, successfully executed in Tamil or Telugu cinema, resulted in dismal failures. But February 2024 brought with it an epiphany of sorts for Malayalam cinema—it realised that it could maintain its focus on content-driven filmmaking and still achieve pan-Indian appeal.

Dubbed “super February”, the last month saw a diverse range of Malayalam films sending cash registers ringing countrywide. Director Chidambaram’s Manjummel Boys was the biggest blockbuster. Based on a real-life story from 2006, it shows 11 young men from Manjummel near Kochi on a fateful mission to save a friend who fell into a crevasse during their trip to Guna Caves in Kodaikanal. With a budget nearing ₹20 crore, this survival thriller has grossed more than ₹200 crore and continues its successful theatrical run. Gireesh A.D.’s Premalu (₹10 crore), a romantic comedy, has crossed the ₹100-crore mark, while Rahul Sadasivan’s horror film Bramayugam (₹27.73 crore) has raked in over ₹85 crore.