Most Awaited Malayalam Movies: Announced or on Production | 2019

Malayalam Cinema is at it’s boisterous era, giving word class content. 2019 second half & 2020 is hugely ambiguous, for both parallel cinema & mainstream commercial cinema, in fact these days the gap between these two is dissolving. There are content films like Jellikkettu & Moothon, which premiered in Toronto. For economics, there are two humongous period dramas of Big M’s (Mammootty & Mohanlal) Mamangam & Marakkar. There is a Trance, which bridges the possibilities of both. 2020 also has many veterans back to show, Blessy, Badran & Priyadarshan and coming up with big films. Here’s a look out into the officially announced – most anticipated films in line up.

Jallikkattu

Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikkattu is slated for an October release this year. It has been very well received in Toronto Film Festival, where it was screened few weeks back in Contemporary World Cinema category. Jallikkattu is based on a short story of S Hareesh; Maoist. Screenplay of the film is also by S Hareesh with R Jayakumar.

Moothon

Moothon as well, along with Jallikkattu was premiered in Toronto and is well received by the audience. Directed by Geethu Mohandas, after her hugely acclaimed Liar’s Dice. Some big names from Indian Cinema is associated with the film. Anurag Kashyap has written the Hindi dialogues & Rajeev Ravi is handling the dop. Moothon stars Nivin Pauly, Sobitha Dhulipala, Shasank Arora, Roshan Mathew etc in important roles. Theatrical release of the film will be after the MAMI screening. Expected to be out in November/December.

Trance

Trance marks the return of Anwar Rasheed after 7 years. Him collaborating with Amal Neerad (dop), Resul Pookutty (Sound Design) & Fahad Fazil makes this film the most awaited of the year. Nazriya Nazim will pair opposite Fahad. Announced to be released on Christmas.

Mamangam

Mamangam is told to be the most expensive project in Malayalam till date. The film chronicles historic festival Mamangam of the 18th century. It has Mammootty as the lead Actor, his few stills from the film were already a huge trendsetter in social media platforms. The project was started by Sajeev Pillai, who wrote the screenplay after a research of 12 years. He shot a few portions of the film but due to some creative differences was ruled out of the project. Replaced by Padmakumar (Joseph Director) in direction & Shanker Ramakrishnan’s screenplay based on the same story. Mamagam bankrolled by Venu Kunnampilly under Kavya film production company is likely to get postponed to 2020. However tentatively slated to October.

Valiya Perunnal

Presented by Anwar Rasheed. Valiya Perunnal is directed by debutante Dimal Dennis. It has Shane Nigam in titular role as a Cinematic Dance trainer. Also stars Joju George & Soubin Shahir. Touted to be a mass action entertainer and Likely to get released this year.

Thuramukham

Directed by Rajeev Ravi & starring Nivin Pauly, Biju Menon, Indrajith Sukumaran, Nimisha Sajayan in important roles. Thuramukham is about the famous protests against the ‘chappa’ system. It is set in Kochi coastals. Nivin is hugely excited about this project.

Chola

Sanal kumar Sasidaran is undoubtedly one of the best filmmakers in Malayalam today. Chola directed by Sanal has Joju George & Nimisha Sajayan in lead roles. World premiere of the film was happened at the Venice film festival & is well received as well. Release date not announced, yet expected to be out by the end of this year or January 2020.

Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham

Directed by Priyadarshan with many renowned technicians including Sabu Cyril in production design department, is a period drama about the fourth Kunjali Marakkar. Starring Mohanlal, Prabhu, Sunil Shetty, Arjun, Pranav Mohanlal, Manju Warrior, Kalyani Priyadarshan etc. The film has already started it’s pre business, with insane pricing. Produced by Aashirwad, this is also second to Mamangam in economics.

Kurupp

Dulquer Salman’s next Malayalam film is directed by Srinath Rajendran (known for Second Show & Koothara). It is based on real life stories of famous Criminal Sukumara Kurupp. Indrajith Sukumaran is also doing an important role of a police officer. Music by Sushin Syam & artwork by Banglan (who recently won the National Award for best production designer).

Bilal

Sequel to the most popular Big B. Bilal will be sure in your waiting list. Announcement was made 2 years back, which stormed the social media with record celebrity shares. Though the details regarding the film is not officially released. There are rumours that Suhas & Sharfu (writers of Varathan & Virus) will be writing the screenplay & Unni R handling the dialogues. Also there’s a buzz that Fahad Fazil along with Mammootty will be part of the film.

Malik

Editor-turned-Director Mahesh Narayanan’s next feature after Take Off is titled as Malik. Starring two young sensations Fahad Fazil & Parvathy Thiruvothu. Is sure to be worthy of waiting. Same team behind take off is in the technical department as well.

Minnal Murali

Said to be the first superhero movie in Malayalam. Minnal Murali is from Basil Joseph who is known for Godha & Kunjiramayanam. It stars Tovino Thomas as the lead Actor.

Empuraan

I am not wildly excited about this film, which is a sequel to Lucifer, the biggest blockbuster of this year. But it’s a hugely expected film to the masses. Empuraan will be shot in foreign locations. Prithviraj Sukumaran will have more screen time as an actor too. No changes in technical crew.

Prathi Poovu Kozhi

This Recently announced project is the first collaboration of writer Unni R & Director Roshan Andrews. As, it will be really interesting to see how this combo works.

Aadujeevitham

Based on the best seller of Benyamin. Aadujeevitham is directed by Blessy, photographed by KU Mohanan & composed by AR Rahman. It is one of the biggest films of next year. Stars Prithviraj Sukumaran & Amal Paul. Shoot of Aadujeevitham is processing in schedules for the past 2 years. Expected to release in 2020 Mid.