Are family dramas losing their charm in Malayalam cinema? Thrillers and action films steal the spotlight

Time of India

04-05-2025

(Picture Courtesy: Facebook)
Malayalam cinema, once known for its strong storytelling style, especially in drama genres, has taken a huge deviation in recent times. The majority of the films that have turned out to be successes are either thrillers or highly entertaining comedy-drama films like 'Premalu'. Now, a big question arises. Has the Malayali audience lost touch with enjoying a good family drama movie on the big screens? Or should such films be played safe by releasing on OTT?
'Thudarum's success
Let's start with the most recent example, the Mohanlal starrer 'Thudarum'. The film was promoted as a family drama movie, and it's a known fact that for the same reason, the hype for the movie, even though having Mohanlal and Shobana in the lead, was less compared to the action thriller film 'Empuraan'.
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Slowly, after the first show, the initial reviews started pouring in, calling it a 'Drishyam-level' thriller movie. Now the magic happened! The occupancy rates have started soaring along with the box office collections. Keeping the mind that the movie is genuinely good and is receiving magnificent reviews from the audiences, isn't it also true that the interest of the audiences, even the fans, was ignited because the early reviews suggested that it was a thriller rather than a family drama movie?
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook)
''Thudarum' comes under family drama' - Tharun Moorthy
Tharun Moorthy, during his promotional interviews, had confirmed that 'Thudarum' is a family drama movie and the audience shouldn't expect anything else from it.
Talking to 'The Cue', the director said, 'But what I am worried about is that we have already fixed a genre for the movie. This comes under family drama. When audiences start deducing a different genre for the movie, I get tense.' He further said, 'When we define a genre and make a movie accordingly, if anything comes beyond that, I cannot accept it—that's my nature.' This was indeed a tactic by the talented director to make the audience keep their hype level in check before watching the movie.
'Home', 'Falimy', and more
A few years back, several family drama movies performed well at the box office and had also received good responses from the audiences once they hit OTT. One such film was the Indrans starrer 'Home'. The Basil Joseph starrer 'Falimy', 'Ponman', and even 'Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil' can also be classified under family movies. But are they all dependent on one factor- comedy or even thrill, not the pure emotions that classic family movies like 'Valsalyam', or even 'Kireedam', exuded?
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook)
'Audiences know which film they should go and watch in theatres' - 'ARM' director Jithin Laal
In an exclusive chat with the Tovino Thomas starrer 'ARM' director Jithin Laal, he said that the perspectives and tastes of the audience have changed over time, especially after Covid.
'Audiences know which film they should go and watch in theatres. They need entertainment, and the filmmakers also have an idea of what to deliver to the audiences,' said Jithin during the interview.
No matter what the genre is, according to the director, audiences are in theatres for pure entertainment. 'They need their money's worth. Entertainment is the main aspect they look for when they are paying money to watch a movie in theatres. Right after a movie's trailer is released, they decide whether they should watch the movie in theatres or wait for it's OTT release.'
Theatre experience matters, can family dramas cater to that?
Like what Christopher Nolan said in a media interaction, 'People will always love the feeling of coming together to watch a great story,' watching a movie in a theatre is a combined experience. Earlier, a good story was enough to cater to the needs of a person who watches a movie in the theatre, now it has transformed to another level, they need a wholesome experience from a movie. As long as a movie, no matter whether it is a family drama or a thriller or even a horror film, just like what Jithin Laal said, the majority of the audiences are in for pure entertainment and nothing else.