Best Malayalam Cinema — The Mollywood Must-Watch List

Malayalam cinema has quietly become the most exciting Indian film industry. Where Hindi, Tamil and Telugu sometimes chase scale, Malayalam films have consistently chased craft — tighter scripts, more grounded acting, more original premises. The last five years have been a full-blown renaissance. Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikattu in 2019 was India's official Academy Awards entry and remains one of the most visually uncompromising Indian films ever made — a single buffalo chase across a village, shot like a tribal epic. Madhu C. Narayanan's Kumbalangi Nights is a perfect four-brothers character study set in the Kerala backwaters, and Dileesh Pothan's Maheshinte Prathikaaram is the ur-text of modern understated Malayalam comedy. Jeo Baby's The Great Indian Kitchen quietly became one of the most important feminist films of the decade. Drishyam, directed by Jeethu Joseph and starring Mohanlal, is the most successful suspense thriller franchise in Indian cinema — the Malayalam original is still the best of the versions. The newer wave keeps the streak going: Girish A.D.'s Premalu and Manjummel Boys both blew up in 2024, and Jithu Madhavan's Aavesham launched Fahadh Faasil into a new mode. 2018, directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, is a disaster epic based on the Kerala floods. Basil Joseph's Minnal Murali is the smartest Indian superhero film ever made. Martin Prakkat's Nayattu and Dileesh Pothan's Joji are both hidden weapons — cold, hard cinema. If you have never watched a Malayalam film, Kumbalangi Nights is the easiest entry point; Jallikattu the most cinematically daring. Every film here can be streamed free in HD on CineFlixo.