FilmyZilla

How FilmyZilla looks

FilmyZilla keeps the look of the site it is named after, a plain list made for mobile telephones. The whole site is one narrow white column in the middle of a pale grey page. At the top is a dark title bar with the name in white and orange and a thin orange line beneath it. Under the bar comes a centred line that begins with the word Bookmark in green and links to My List, then a search box with rounded corners and a blue button, and a short row of menu links: Home, Malayalam Movies, Comedy, Family, Love Stories, the A to Z list and Help. On a phone, the menu folds into an orange three-line button in the title bar.

Every heading on the site is a grey bar with bold black lettering and an orange line along its top edge, a detail measured from the original page. The first bar reads News, with a short note for newcomers that begins with the word Note in red. The second reads Updates, and it is the most characteristic part of the design: a set of short rows, each beginning with the name of a category in bold red, then a dash, then the three newest films in that category, each followed by its year in green square brackets. The original site announced its additions in exactly this way.

Below the updates come the lists. Under the bar Malayalam Movies, each category has a wide row of its own, easy to press with a thumb, beginning with a small red double arrow and ending with the number of films in small red figures. A second bar introduces the three groups by year, and the newest is marked with the word new in red. Two small grids of posters follow, Most watched and Top rated, each poster topped with an orange line, then the list of help pages under the bar Extra, and finally this guide. A dark bar with the copyright line closes the page.

The grey and orange heading bars, the dotted frames around the short paragraphs, the red labels and green tags and the rounded search box with its blue button were measured from a saved copy of the original page from January 2018. The site's separate style sheet was lost, so the remaining colours, such as the dark title bar, were chosen to match. The page works with a keyboard, a screen reader and a small phone screen.

Modern classics

A handful of films from this decade are already regarded as classics, and they are the best introduction to the catalogue. Most of them appear in the Top rated category, which is described on the Top rated help page.

The Great Indian Kitchen, from 2021, written and directed by Jeo Baby, is the most discussed Malayalam film of recent years. A young dancer, played by Nimisha Sajayan, marries a schoolteacher, played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, and moves into his family's respected old house. The film then simply watches her days: the chopping, the grinding, the cooking of three fresh meals, the washing of dishes, the leaking pipe under the sink that nobody else will mend. The men of the house are polite and entirely served. With very little dialogue and hardly any music, the film builds to a decision that audiences across India cheered. It was made on a tiny budget, released directly online and later remade in Hindi and Tamil.

#Home, from 2021, directed by Rojin Thomas, is its gentle opposite. Oliver Twist, as his father named him, is a kindly, retired man in his sixties, played by Indrans, who owns an old video shop's worth of memories and a very simple telephone. His elder son, a film-maker struggling with his second script, comes home and barely looks up from his screen. So Oliver decides to learn the smartphone, with touching and funny results, and the film asks what a father must do to be seen by his children. Indrans, for decades a comedian in small parts, gives the performance of his life, and the film won the national award for the best Malayalam film.

Njan Prakashan, from 2018, reunited two veterans, the director Sathyan Anthikad and the writer Sreenivasan, with the star Fahadh Faasil. Prakashan is a trained nurse who thinks nursing beneath him. He has changed his name to the more fashionable P. R. Akash, lives off his friends and dreams of an easy life in Germany, and when his former girlfriend finds a job there he sees his chance. Fahadh Faasil makes this lazy charmer irresistible, and the film's second half, in which Prakashan is hired to look after a sharp-tongued teenage girl, quietly turns him into a better man. It was one of the greatest successes in the history of Malayalam cinema.

Android Kunjappan Version 5.25, from 2019, the first film of Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval, begins as a comedy about a stubborn old man and ends as something much more moving. Bhaskaran, played by Suraj Venjaramoodu under a grey wig, refuses to let his engineer son take a job in Russia, and drives away every home nurse the son hires. So the son, played by Soubin Shahir, sends home a small white robot. The villagers name it Kunjappan, dress it in a waistcloth, and Bhaskaran, who distrusts every machine, slowly comes to love it as a second son.

Ee.Ma.Yau., from 2018, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, is set in a fishing village on the coast near Kochi. Old Vavachan comes home from a long absence, tells his son Eeshi about the splendid funeral he once arranged for his own father, and passes away that very night; Eeshi promises him the grandest funeral the village has seen. What follows, through one stormy night and day, is a dark and brilliant comedy of gossiping neighbours, a suspicious priest, a brass band and a coffin that keeps going wrong. The same director's Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, from 2023, stars Mammootty as James, a short-tempered man leading a busload of pilgrims home to Kerala, who wakes from a nap, walks into a Tamil village and begins to live as a villager who vanished two years before. It is a quiet, dream-like film and one of its star's finest hours.

Koode, from 2018, directed by Anjali Menon, is a tender story set in the hills of Ooty. Joshua, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran, was sent to work in the Gulf as a boy to pay for the treatment of his younger sister; he returns for her funeral, moves into an old van that the family keeps in the yard, and finds her sitting in the back seat, as lively and talkative as ever, played by Nazriya Nazim. Only he can see her, and with her teasing help he learns to live again. Parvathy plays the childhood friend he meets once more.

Comedies of village life

Comedy is the heart of the catalogue. The Comedy category holds 145 films and the Village life category 25, and the Comedy and Village life help pages offer short tours.

The typical Malayalam comedy takes one small problem and follows it patiently. In Bheemante Vazhi, from 2021, a man who had to carry his sick mother down a narrow footpath decides that the lane to his neighbourhood must be widened into a road, and discovers that every neighbour has a reason to object to losing a few feet of land. Kunchacko Boban plays the easy-going hero. In Saudi Vellakka, from 2022, directed by Tharun Moorthy, a man receives a court summons about something that happened when he was a boy: a tender coconut, a cricket game and an old woman's moment of anger. The case has crawled through the courts for more than a decade, and the film, funny at first, becomes a deeply humane story about time and forgiveness.

Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam, from 2021, directed by Senna Hegde, takes place over two days in a house in northern Kerala, where Vijayan, a stern father back from the Gulf, has arranged the engagement of his younger daughter for Monday. The relatives arrive, the pandal goes up, the food is ordered; the daughter has other plans. Filmed with local actors speaking the dialect of the region, it is a perfect small comedy about a household where everyone is hiding something from the head of the family. The same director made Padmini, about a village lecturer whose bride drove away on their wedding night in a car of that name, leaving him with a nickname he is unable to shake off.

Palthu Janwar, from 2022, stars Basil Joseph as a young man who dreamed of being an animator and has instead inherited his late father's government job as a livestock inspector in a hill village. He knows very little about cows, and the villagers know it. Madanolsavam follows a street seller who colours chicks for a living and is persuaded to stand in an election because he shares a candidate's name; Member Rameshan 9aam Ward follows a labourer who finds himself on the ballot for the village council; and Somante Krithavu follows an agriculture officer whose belief in natural living puzzles everyone around him.

Some comedies begin with an unlikely idea. In Vikruthi, from 2019, taken from a real incident, a young man photographs a passenger asleep on the Kochi metro and posts the picture online with a joke, unaware that the man, who can neither hear nor speak, had spent two sleepless nights at a hospital with his daughter. Suraj Venjaramoodu and Soubin Shahir play the two men whose lives are changed by one thoughtless moment. In Grrr.., a heartbroken man climbs into the lion's enclosure at the zoo, and a guard has to go in after him. Charles Enterprises concerns a family statue of Ganesh, and Gauthamante Radham concerns a tiny car, the first in the family, and the young man who must learn to love it.

Kunchacko Boban, who has fifteen films in the catalogue, is the favourite hero of this kind of comedy: see Kuttanadan Marpappa, Johny Johny Yes Appa, Mangalyam Thanthunanena, Allu Ramendran, in which a policeman hunts for the prankster who keeps puncturing his tyres, Thattumpurath Achuthan and Panchavarnathatha, in which Jayaram plays a mysterious man who travels with a small zoo of birds and animals. Biju Menon, with his slow smile, leads Thundu, Nadanna Sambhavam, Kadha Innuvare and Lalitham Sundaram.

A taste for fantasy runs through several comedies. Mahaveeryar, from 2022, opens in the court of an eighteenth-century king who suffers from hiccups and moves, with a wink and little explanation, to a present-day courtroom where a wandering holy man is on trial; it is strange, witty and handsome to look at. Gaganachari, from 2024, is a mock documentary set in a flooded Kerala of the 2040s, where three bachelors in a flat receive a visitor from another planet. Padakkalam, from 2025, follows four comic-book fans at a college who discover that one of their teachers has unusual powers, and Perumani is about a village and a mysterious stranger. Aadu 3 Part 1, from 2026, brings back Shaji Pappan, the proud and foolish village strongman played by Jayasurya, whose earlier adventures with a goat made him a cult hero.

Family films

The Family category holds 94 films, and the Family films help page picks out the best.

Falimy, from 2023, is about a family that hardly speaks to one another: a father who has given up, a mother who works at a printing press, two sons who argue, and a grandfather of eighty-two who keeps running away because he wants to see the holy city of Kashi before he dies. When the elder son's engagement collapses, the family finally agrees to take the old man there by train, and everything that can go wrong on a journey across India does. Basil Joseph leads a fine cast, and the film's spelling of its title tells you how well this family fits together.

Jacob's Kingdom of Heaven, from 2016, directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan from a true story, is set among the Malayali families of Dubai. Jacob, a businessman who has given his wife and four children every comfort, is cheated by a partner and must leave the country to raise money; his eldest son Jerry, played by Nivin Pauly, and his determined mother have to keep the family afloat and repay the debts. It is a film about the strength of a household, told with warmth and music.

Fathers and sons are a favourite subject. Anuraga Karikkin Vellam, from 2016, the first film of the director Khalid Rahman, sets a gruff police officer, played by Biju Menon, beside his aimless son, played by Asif Ali, who is trying to end things with a devoted girlfriend; each learns something about love from the other. Aakasha Mittayee compares two fathers, one who encourages his son's dreams and one who dictates them, Ouseppinte Osiyathu and Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal, both from 2025, bring grown-up brothers back to the family home, and Bharathanatyam follows a son who makes a surprising discovery when his father is taken to hospital.

Mothers and grandmothers have their films too. Udaharanam Sujatha, from 2017, stars Manju Warrier as a mother who cleans houses and works in a factory so that her teenage daughter can study, and who finally joins the girl's class to prove a point. Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela, from the same year, is a comedy about a serious subject: when Sheela, a college lecturer and the calm centre of her family, learns that she is ill, it is her husband and children who fall to pieces, and she who has to steady them. Shanthi Krishna, Lal and Nivin Pauly are a delight. Oru Muthassi Gadha is about two grandmothers, one fierce and one free-spirited, and a list of wishes to be fulfilled, and Pookkaalam, from 2023, begins when a man of a hundred, surrounded by four generations of his family, finds an old letter and announces that he wants a divorce.

Films with children at their centre are among the gentlest in the catalogue. Annmariya Kalippilaanu, from 2016, follows a ten-year-old girl who feels she has been treated unfairly by her sports teacher and hires a small-time tough, played by Sunny Wayne, to teach him a lesson; the tough turns out to have a soft heart. Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho is about a village boy who longs to fly in an aeroplane and the swimming coach who helps him, Aravindante Athidhikal is about a boy raised at a lodge beside a famous temple, Pyali is about a little girl and her brother who look after each other, and My Santa, Prakashan Parakkatte, Sullu and Olappeeppi are family stories of the same warm kind. Valatty, from 2023, is told entirely by dogs: two pets from neighbouring houses who run away together.

Aby and Vimanam, both from 2017, are about the dream of flight. The first follows a simple young man who has been fascinated by flying since childhood; the second, with Prithviraj Sukumaran, is taken from the true story of a man who was born unable to hear or speak and built a light aircraft in his own yard. Thirike is about two brothers, one of whom has Down syndrome, on a road trip; Gemini is about an adopted child; and Aalorukkam, which brought the actor Indrans his first major award, follows an old performer searching for the son who left home sixteen years before.

Weddings and marriages

The Weddings category holds 38 films, and the Weddings help page divides them into the days before the ceremony and the life that follows.

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, from 2024, directed by Vipin Das, was one of the great comic successes of its year. Vinu, played by Basil Joseph, is about to be married at the famous temple of Guruvayur, and he adores his future brother-in-law Anandan, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran, who has been his adviser in matters of the heart. A few days before the wedding, the two friends make a discovery about the past that turns them into determined enemies, and the ceremony becomes a battlefield of schemes. Sulaikha Manzil, from 2023, is a sweeter story, set among the Muslim families of northern Kerala: Ameen and Haala are to be married in a hurry and scarcely know each other, and the film follows the days of preparation, with its songs and dances, as they try to become acquainted.

Vijay Superum Pournamiyum, from 2019, brings together a young man with few ambitions and a young woman with many, who meet when a marriage proposal goes wrong and end up running a food truck. Happy Wedding, Maniyarayile Ashokan, about a bachelor with an unlucky horoscope, Oru Jaathi Jaathakam, Mandakini, Madhuvidhu and Mr and Mrs Bachelor, in which a runaway bride meets a carefree bachelor in his forties, are comedies of the same family. Thrishanku and Ladoo are about couples who plan to elope, with relatives close behind, and Hello Mummy is a fantasy in which a new husband finds that his bride's late mother has stayed on in the house as a very protective spirit.

Love stories

The Love stories category holds 50 films, and the Love stories help page suggests where to begin.

Thamasha, from 2019, is a romance of unusual kindness. Sreenivasan, a college lecturer of thirty-one, played by Vinay Forrt, is shy, balding and convinced that his appearance is the reason for his many failed proposals. Then he meets Chinnu, a cheerful, generous young woman who is used to unkind remarks about her size, and a photograph of the two of them, posted online, attracts the mockery of strangers. How they answer it is the heart of the film. Thalavara, from 2025, tells a similar story about a young man who has hidden from the world because of the pale patches on his skin.

Ramante Edanthottam, from 2017, directed by Ranjith Sankar, sends a woman in an unhappy marriage to a forest resort run by a gentle widower, played by Kunchacko Boban, and treats their friendship with great tact. James and Alice follows a married couple who have drifted apart and are given a chance to look back. Madhuram, from 2021, is set among the relatives who wait, day after day, in the visitors' room of a hospital, and who share their food and their love stories; Joju George is wonderful as a cook whose wife is a patient upstairs.

Younger love has many films. Ntikkakkakkoru Premondarnn, from 2023, reunites two sweethearts from school days, and marked the return of the actress Bhavana to Malayalam cinema. Other gentle stories include Ullasam, in which two strangers share a train journey from Ooty, Oh My Darling, Anuragam, 4 Years, set in the last days of college, Qalb, Premasoothram, Kamuki, Vishudha Mejo and Pyppin Chuvattile Pranayam, set on a small island near Kochi where fresh water is scarce and neighbours meet at the public tap.

Two films follow a young woman from her teens to adulthood. June, from 2019, with Rajisha Vijayan, begins on the first day of the eleventh class and follows its heroine through first love, college, work and the choices that make her who she is. Sara'S, from 2021, follows a young assistant director, played by Anna Ben, who knows exactly what she wants from life and has to explain it, patiently, to everyone else.

Students and friends

Malayalam cinema has a special affection for the young. The Students and friends category holds 44 films, and the Students and friends help page introduces them.

Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, from 2019, the first film of the director Girish A. D., is the school comedy that every later one is measured against. Jaison, in the eleventh class, has three problems: a girl named Keerthy who ignores him, a new Malayalam teacher whom everyone else adores and he alone distrusts, and the general injustice of being sixteen. Mathew Thomas and Anaswara Rajan became stars through it, and Vineeth Sreenivasan plays the smiling teacher. The title means watermelon days, after the juice the students drink in the long summer afternoons.

Aanandam, from 2016, directed by Ganesh Raj, follows a class of engineering students on a four-day college trip to Hampi and Goa. Very little happens, and that is the point: friendships shift, a shy boy finds his courage, a secret couple is found out, and the film captures the feeling of being nineteen with a whole bus of friends. All its actors were newcomers. Poomaram, from 2018, is set during a great inter-college arts festival and is filled with poetry and song, and Jo & Jo, from 2022, is about a brother and sister in a village during the months when the schools were closed, who quarrel about everything, especially about who is allowed to do what.

The years after college are covered as well. Dear Friend follows five flatmates in Bengaluru whose friendship is tested when one of them leaves; Saturday Night reunites four childhood friends; Role Models, with Fahadh Faasil, sends old college friends to Goa to cheer up one of their number; and Jan-e-Man, from 2021, begins when a lonely nurse in Canada flies home to celebrate his thirtieth birthday with schoolmates he has scarcely seen in years, on the very night that the house across the road is in mourning. Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan is about a young man from a hill town who is sure that he will be a film star, and Malayalee from India, with Nivin Pauly, sends an idle young man far from home.

Sport

Sport gives several films their energy, and the Sport help page gathers them. Alappuzha Gymkhana, from 2025, directed by Khalid Rahman, follows a group of friends who have failed their school examinations and hope to enter college through the sports quota, by taking up boxing; they are cheerful, lazy and quite unprepared for a real tournament. Karinkunnam 6's, from 2016, stars Manju Warrier as a volleyball coach who builds a team from the inmates of a prison for a professional league.

Kho Kho, from 2021, stars Rajisha Vijayan as a former athlete who takes a teaching post at a girls' school on an island and forms a team for the traditional game of the title. Sesham Mike-il Fathima, from 2023, stars Kalyani Priyadarshan as a talkative young woman from Malappuram, where football is a passion, who decides to become a commentator. Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu is about the supporters of a faraway football team in a Kerala village across several World Cups, Tholvi F.C. is about a family in which everyone is losing at something, Nonsense features a student who loves BMX cycling, and DiwanjiMoola Grand Prix revives an old motorcycle race in the city of Thrissur. Moonwalk, from 2025, set in 1987, follows young men on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram who discover breakdancing.

Malayalis abroad

Millions of people from Kerala work abroad, above all in the countries of the Gulf, and the experience runs through Malayalam cinema. The Malayalis abroad help page lists the films that deal with it.

Ayisha, from 2023, stars Manju Warrier in a story drawn from the life of a celebrated stage actress of Kerala, who went to the Gulf in middle age to work as a housemaid in a royal household and formed an unexpected friendship with the old lady of the house. Meow, from 2021, directed by Lal Jose, follows a shopkeeper in a small emirate and his wife and three children; Sarkeet, from 2025, follows a young couple in the Gulf struggling to balance work with the care of a lively son; and Shefeekkinte Santhosham follows a kind-hearted expatriate home on leave. Mangalyam Thanthunanena is about a newly married man who loses his job in Dubai.

Drama, from 2018, with Mohanlal, is set in England, where an elderly mother from Kerala passes away while visiting her children and a funeral director must settle a family dispute about where she is to rest. Pachuvum Athbhuthavilakkum, from 2023, with Fahadh Faasil, begins in Mumbai, where a young Malayali businessman agrees to escort an elderly lady home by train, and United Kingdom of Kerala, from 2025, is about a student who refuses to go abroad at all.

Films with something to say

Even the lightest Malayalam film usually has a point to make, and a few films in the catalogue are frankly serious. Ullozhukku, from 2024, is set in a house surrounded by flood water, where a family must wait for the waters to fall before a funeral can take place; during the wait, a mother-in-law, played by the great Urvashi, and her daughter-in-law, played by Parvathy, come to know each other's secrets. It is a superbly acted chamber drama. 19(1)(a), from 2022, named after the article of the Indian constitution that protects freedom of speech, follows a young woman who runs a photocopy shop and is handed a manuscript by a writer, played by Vijay Sethupathi.

Unda, from 2019, with Mammootty as the weary head of a police unit from Kerala sent to guard an election in a distant forest region, is a humane film about ordinary men far from home. Oruthee follows a ticket collector on a ferry who stands up for herself; Halal Love Story, from 2020, is a comedy about a devout community group that decides to make a film of its own and discovers how hard that is; and And The Oscar Goes To... follows a young director, played by Tovino Thomas, who takes his first film all the way to Los Angeles.

Familiar faces

Malayalam cinema is a small world, and the same actors appear again and again, often in very different parts. The Familiar faces category holds 105 films with the best-known of them, and the Familiar faces help page suggests where to start.

Suraj Venjaramoodu began as a mimic and comedian, famous for one regional accent, and has become one of the most respected actors in India. He appears in fourteen films here, as the old man of Android Kunjappan Version 5.25, the husband of The Great Indian Kitchen, the sleeping passenger of Vikruthi, and in lighter mood in Madanolsavam, Grrr.. and ED: Extra Decent. Basil Joseph, a director who turned to acting, has ten films, among them Falimy, Palthu Janwar, Jan-e-Man, Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, Kakshi: Amminippilla and Kadina Kadoramee Andakadaham, in which a young man tries to start a business in the worst possible year; he has a gift for playing decent, harassed, ordinary men.

The two senior stars of the industry, Mammootty and Mohanlal, both active since the early 1980s, appear in gentler roles than their action films allow. Mammootty is in Unda, Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, Ganagandharvan, as a stage singer whose quiet life is turned upside down, Pullikaran Stara, as a teacher of teachers, and Oru Kuttanadan Blog. Mohanlal is in Drama, Ittymaani: Made In China, Varshangalkku Shesham and Hridayapoorvam, from 2025, in which a middle-aged bachelor with a new heart travels to Pune to attend the engagement of his donor's daughter.

Fahadh Faasil, admired across India for his intense performances, shows his comic side in Njan Prakashan, Role Models, Pachuvum Athbhuthavilakkum and Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira. Nivin Pauly leads Jacob's Kingdom of Heaven, Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela, Mahaveeryar and Malayalee from India; Tovino Thomas leads Theevandi, a satire about a young man who is unable to give up smoking, Ente Ummante Peru and And The Oscar Goes To...; Asif Ali has eleven films, and Soubin Shahir, another director turned actor, has nine, including the charming Ambili, about an innocent young man who follows a cyclist across India.

Manju Warrier, the leading actress of the industry, returned to films in 2014 after a long break and has seven titles here: Udaharanam Sujatha, Karinkunnam 6's, Mohanlal, in which she plays a devoted fan of the star, Ayisha, Lalitham Sundaram, Meri Awas Suno and Vellari Pattanam. Among younger actresses, Anaswara Rajan has seven films, and Nikhila Vimal, Rajisha Vijayan, Anna Ben and Kalyani Priyadarshan are all well represented. And every viewer soon learns to welcome the supporting players: Indrans, Siddique, Saiju Kurup, Johny Antony, Aju Varghese and Sharafudheen seem to be in almost everything.

Directors to know

The Directors to know help page names a few of the film-makers behind the catalogue. Sathyan Anthikad has been making family comedies since the early 1980s, and Njan Prakashan and Hridayapoorvam show that his touch is as sure as ever; his son Akhil Sathyan made Pachuvum Athbhuthavilakkum. Vineeth Sreenivasan, the son of the writer and actor Sreenivasan, is a singer, actor and director whose films, Jacob's Kingdom of Heaven and Varshangalkku Shesham, a story of two friends in the Madras film world of the 1970s, are full of music and good feeling.

Lijo Jose Pellissery is the adventurer of the group; Ee.Ma.Yau. and Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam are unlike anything else in Indian cinema. Khalid Rahman moves easily between moods, from Anuraga Karikkin Vellam to Unda to Alappuzha Gymkhana. Midhun Manuel Thomas made Annmariya Kalippilaanu, Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu and the Aadu comedies; Ashraf Hamsa made Thamasha, Bheemante Vazhi and Sulaikha Manzil; Ranjith Sankar made Ramante Edanthottam and Punyalan Private Limited; and Jude Anthany Joseph made Oru Muthassi Gadha and Sara'S.

Women directors have made some of the finest films of the decade: Anjali Menon with Koode, Indhu V. S. with 19(1)(a) and Stephy Zaviour with Madhura Manohara Moham. Several of the best films were first features, Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, Android Kunjappan Version 5.25, Aanandam and Anuraga Karikkin Vellam among them, which says much about the openness of the industry to new talent.

Year by year

Three categories arrange the catalogue by date, and the Year by year help page describes them. The 2016 to 2019 category holds 84 films. These were the years in which a new generation took charge: Aanandam, Annmariya Kalippilaanu, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam, Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela, Koode, Ee.Ma.Yau., Njan Prakashan, Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, Unda, Thamasha and Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 all belong to them.

The 2020 to 2023 category holds 77 films. Cinemas were closed for much of 2020 and 2021, and Malayalam film-makers answered with small films made in a single house or a single village, many of them released directly to streaming services, where viewers across India discovered them. The Great Indian Kitchen, #Home, Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam, Jan-e-Man, Halal Love Story, Saudi Vellakka, Palthu Janwar, Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam and Falimy come from this remarkable period.

The 2024 to 2026 category holds 43 films, among them Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, Ullozhukku, Varshangalkku Shesham, Gaganachari, Alappuzha Gymkhana, Hridayapoorvam, Padakkalam and Aadu 3 Part 1. The Updates rows at the top of the home page always show the three newest films in each category.

Finding a film

There are several ways to find a film on FilmyZilla, and the Finding titles help page describes each one. The search box under the title bar accepts a title and shows matching films as you type. The A to Z page lists all 204 films in alphabetical order, the Malayalam Movies page lists them by popularity, and the home page lists nine categories and three groups by year, each with its number of films.

Malayalam titles can be long, and they are written in English letters in more than one way, so typing the first word or two is usually the quickest method. Some titles are proverbs or lines from songs; Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela means an interval in the land of crabs, and Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam means the engagement is on Monday. A few are in English or Hindi: Drama, June, Mohanlal, Bobby, Aby and Koode are short enough to type in full. One title begins with a symbol: #Home can be found by typing Home.

What a title page shows

Every film has a page of its own. At the top are the poster, the title, the original Malayalam title, the year, the running time and the rating from viewers around the world. Below come the story in English, the genres, the director and the leading actors, and a row of related films from the same categories. The Watch now button opens a list of the official services that carry the film in your country, with a note of whether each one offers it to subscribers, to rent or to buy.

Malayalam films are well served by the streaming services, which carry most recent releases with English subtitles and often with dubbed sound in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Availability differs from country to country and changes from month to month, so the list on each title page is the best place to look. Viewers in the Gulf, where many films open in cinemas on the same day as in Kerala, will find those countries in the list of regions.

To keep a film for later, use the Add to My List button on its page. Your list is held by your own browser on the device in your hand, with neither an account nor a password, and the Bookmark line under the title bar takes you back to it. The My List help page explains how to remove a film and how to move the list to another device.

A first week

For a newcomer to Malayalam cinema, here are seven evenings. On the first, laugh with Njan Prakashan. On the second, watch #Home with your parents, or your children. On the third, take the train with Falimy. On the fourth, give your full attention to The Great Indian Kitchen. On the fifth, go back to school with Thanneer Mathan Dinangal. On the sixth, meet the robot of Android Kunjappan Version 5.25, and on the seventh, spend an evening in the hills with Koode.

A second week might hold Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam, Saudi Vellakka, Jacob's Kingdom of Heaven, Aanandam, Thamasha and Ee.Ma.Yau.. For an evening with children, choose Annmariya Kalippilaanu, Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho or Valatty; for something unusual, Mahaveeryar, Gaganachari or Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam.

A little about Kerala

It helps to know a few things about the place where these films are set. Kerala lies between the Arabian Sea and the mountains of the Western Ghats, and its landscape changes within a few hours' drive from beaches and backwaters to rubber plantations, tea gardens and cool hill stations. The lagoons and rice fields of Kuttanad, in the middle of the state, appear in Kuttanadan Marpappa and Oru Kuttanadan Blog; the high ranges appear in Palthu Janwar and Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan; and the coast near Kochi appears in Ee.Ma.Yau. and Pyppin Chuvattile Pranayam.

Hindus, Muslims and Christians have lived side by side in Kerala for many centuries, and the films move easily among the three communities: a temple wedding in Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, a Muslim wedding in Sulaikha Manzil, a Christian funeral in Ee.Ma.Yau., a pilgrimage in Shubharathri. Dialects differ sharply from north to south, and film-makers delight in them; the Thrissur accent of Georgettan's Pooram and Punyalan Private Limited, the speech of Kannur in Autorsha and of Kasaragod in Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam are part of the comedy, and good subtitles try to suggest the flavour.

Food is everywhere in these films, as the kitchen of The Great Indian Kitchen, the family bakery of Saajan Bakery Since 1962 and the chef of Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal remind us. So are festivals, football, politics, which Malayalis discuss with passion and humour in Randu and Vellari Pattanam, and the Gulf, to which almost every family has sent a son or daughter.

How the catalogue is kept

Each film on FilmyZilla is looked at by a person before it is listed. The story, the certificate and the reviews are read, and titles that would be out of place on a family evening are passed to other guides. The summaries are short and written in plain English, the years and running times are compared with the public film databases, and the posters are the official ones. The categories, their counts and the Updates rows are rebuilt together each time the catalogue is refreshed.

FilmyZilla is a guide, and it stores neither films nor downloads. A press of Watch now takes you to an official, licensed service, and the writers, actors and crews of Kerala benefit each time a film is watched that way.

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