Best Malayalam Movies of 2016 - Year End Review

2016 has been an excellent year for the Malayalam film industry. Many good movies were released this year and most of them were box office success. Above all Pulimurugan entered into the 100 Crore club and made our industry proud. Here is the list of best Malayalam movies released this year.

1. Kammattipadam

Cinematographer turned director Rajeev Ravi’s Kammattipadam scripted by P. Balachandran tells the story of a group of people from a slum of Ernakulam. Kammattipadam is an honest attempt to portray how the life of oppressed community changes when urbanisation occurs. The performance of all actors, especially Dulquer Salman, Vinayakan and Manikandan R Achari were really awesome. Kammattipadam was a super hit at the box office and collected over 15 Crores.

2. Action Hero Biju

Action Hero Biju directed by Abrid Shine depicts the life of a police sub-Inspector named Biju Paulose. The movie clearly shows how the Kerala police actually are. Unlike other cop-based movies, Action Hero Biju lacks larger than life dialogues and that was really good. The performances of all actors including junior artists were too good. The movie marks the comeback of veteran music director Jerry Amaldev. The movie ran over 100 days in theatres and collected over 30 Crores.

3. Maheshinte Prathikaaram

Maheshinte Prathikaaram written by Shyam Pushkaran and directed by debutant Dileesh Pothan marks the comeback of Fahadh Faasil into the limelight after a series of flops. The movie tells the story of Mahesh Bhavana, an innocent photographer from a small village in Idukki. One song from the movie ‘Mala Mele Thirivechu’ composed by Bijibal was a chartbuster. The movie was a super hit and collected over 17 Crores.

4. Guppy

Guppy written and directed by debutant Johnpaul George tells how the life of a village boy nicknamed Guppy changed when an engineer named Thejas Varky was introduced to that seaside village for the construction of a new bridge. The performance delivered by Tovino Thomas, Chethan Jayalal and Sreenivasan were extremely impressive. Even though Guppy was a fantabulous movie, its box office performance was average.

5. Oppam

Veteran director Priyadarshan’s Oppam was the first Malayalam release of the complete actor Mohanlal this year. The movie portrays the life of a blind lift operator Jayaraman who becomes the prime suspect of a murder case. The performance of Mohanlal as a blind man as well as the movie got wide appreciation. Oppam collected over 60 Crores from the theatres and became the third highest grossing Malayalam movie of all time.

6. Jacobinte Swargarajyam

Jacobinte Swargarajyam written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan is an inspirational biographical movie based on the real life of an NRI businessman Jacob Zachariah. The movie tells the struggles faced by Jacob’s family after getting cheated by a fraudster. Jacobinte Swargarajyam can be considered as the best movie of the Vineeth Sreenivasan – Nivin Pauly combo. The movie was a grand success at the box office and collected over 25 Crores.

7. Pulimurugan

Undoubtedly, Pulimurugan written by Udayakrishna and directed by Vysakh is the movie that is going to make this year memorable in the history of the Malayalam film industry. The movie, which tells the story of Murugan played by Mohanlal, who is a tiger hunter, became the first movie to cross 100 crore mark in the Malayalam film industry. Recently, the Telugu dubbed version of the film, Manyam Puli  was released in 500 screens across Andhra Pradesh and Telengana and got appreciation from there also.