Malayala Cinema 2005

Malayalam cinema never had it so good. 2005 has been the year of blockbusters- "Udayanaanu Thaaram", �Rajamanikyam�, �Naran�, �Chanthupottu�, �Thommanum Makkalum�.

The message emitting out is loud and clear that Malayalam cinema is superstar driven. Nearly 95 percent of box-office gross comes from Mammootty, Mohanlal and Dileep films and they rule Kerala�s commercial cinema circuit

In 2005, all films with young heroes failed to impress Malayalees as none of them could create any impact at the box-office. Most of them did not run for more than a week and were duds. Only �Ananthabhadram� sold on Sathosh Sivan�s name was able to recover the cost.

2005 saw the migration of Malayalee girls to other languages and other-language heroines making a beeline to Kerala to be the heroines of superstars. The year also saw the come back of Suresh Gopi in �Bharathchandran IPS� an average hit.

Top 10 Movies of the Year 2005

1.Rajamanikyam
2.Udayanaanu Thaaram
3.Naran
4.Chanthupottu
5.Thommanum Makkalum
6.Bharathchandran IPS
7.Achuvinte Amma
8.Raappakal
9.Kochi Rajavu
10.Ben Johnson

The year of the superstars

The year 2005 belonged solely to the superstars. From the beginning of the year, just about all the superhits came from the superstars. This was also the year when Mammootty took a clear lead over Mohanlal. At the beginning of the year, both had started with one hit each. But, before the end of the year, there were many who started wondering if Mohanlal's career has come to an end in Malayalam.

Mammootty started the year with the hangover of 'Kaazcha's success. Since then, all the films that he worked in this year had turned out to be fabulous hits. 'Thomamnum Makkalum', 'Raapakal', 'Taskaraveeran' and 'Naerariyan CBI' followed. The biggest hit came at the close of the year with 'Rajamanikyam'. But he probably isn't all that happy about the way 'Bus Conductor' is doing.

Mohanlal had the biggest hit of the year with 'Udayanaanu Thaaram'. But then, films like 'Chandrotsavam' and 'Udayon' happened. 'Naran' came as a much-awaited blessing. It helped him stabilize for a while. Towards the end of the year, he came up with 'Thanmatra'. The film has Mohanlal at his best. But the film's collection at the box office isn't reflecting the quality of the film. There is still lot of time.

Dileep had a mixed year this time, with just one big hit, 'Chaandupottu'. The other two films that he starred in, managed to recover costs comfortably.

After being in oblivion for a long time, Suresh Gopi returned fabulously with 'Bharatchandran IPS', the sequel to 'Commissioner'. Suddenly, all his films that remained pending because distributors wouldn't touch them, are now lining up for release. Unfortunately, his second film, 'The Tiger', didn't do all that well at the box office.

This is one actor whom everybody is worried about these days. He had four releases and all of them flopped. 'Pouran', 'Fingerprint', 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Sarkardada' were the films. Thanks to these disasters, nobody wants to buy his new film 'Winter', the supernatural thriller.

He remains the only young hero of the new generation who managed to survive this year. Jayasurya finds himself playing the role of supporting hero these days but Prithviraj managed to hold on. He had successfully made his debut in Tamil. He also had five Malayalam films this year- 'Adbhutadweep', 'Krithyam', 'The Police', 'Deivanaamathil' and 'Ananthabhadram'. All of them recovered costs. 'Ananthabhadram' turned out to be a hit.

The Heroines of the year

In the year 2005, almost all the young Malayalam heroines shifted their base to Chennai. Money was good. Publicity and fame was unbelievable. But, there were a few who continued to stick around in Malayalam.

Like, Kavya Madhavan, for one. Heoriens may come and heroines may go but Kavya always remains obsessed with Malayalam. Gopika made an occasional appearance here and managed to star in two of the biggest grosser this year- �Naerariyaan CBI� and �Chaandupottu�. Nayantara returned with �Taskaraveeran�. Navya appeared in couple of very average grosser including �Sarkardada�. Padhmapriya made an impressive debut with �Kaazcha�. She signed up some films with the leading heroes but is now concentrating on Tamil.

Laya decided to concentrate on Malayalam after running out of offers in Telugu. Khushboo, Suhasini, Devayani and other such veterans made their appearances in Malayalam.

The biggest comeback of the year belongs to Nadia Moidu. Though it was a Tamil film that she had acted in, her popularity was so immense that soon Malayalam filmmakers started approaching her with offers. She refused most of them.

Towards the end of the year, Meera Vasudevan made her debut with �Thanmatra�. Watch out for her next year.

But the best thing that happened to Malayalam films this year was Mamta Mohandas. Hariharan launched her in the film �Mayookham�. The film flopped but even before its release, Mamta had signed up four new films.

The Directors of the year

2005 belonged to two people- the superstars and the directors. We�ll look into the superstars� charts later. Let�s have a look at the directors. 2005 was also the year of debutant directors. Most of the blockbusters were directed by rank newcomers.

Roshan Andrews made an impressive debut with �Udayanaanu Thaaram�. The film showcased, once more, Sreenivasan�s immense talents as a screenplay writer. �Udayanaanu Thaaram� was the best thing that happened to Mohanlal this year. Roshan Andrews is now getting ready to remake the film in Hindi. Talks had started a long time ago, but nothing much is happening.

Blessy was still basking in glory of his �Kaazcha�. The audience loved the film so much that it stayed in the charts for a very long time. Towards the end of 2005, he came up with �Thanmatra�. Mohanlal played the lead role. The film is beautiful, but it isn�t the kind of film Mohanlal�s fans would want to see.

Anwar Rasheed gave Mammootty his best Ramzan gift ever with the film �Rajamanikyam�. The film is soon going to become Mammootty�s all-time best hit at the box office.

Santosh Sivan made a stylish directorial debut with �Ananthabhadram�. He is now going to direct an English film.

There was nothing much heard from the other directors. Lal Jose made himself visible with �Chaanthupottu�, the Dileep-Gopika starrer. Shaji Kailas�s bad times continue with yet another disaster, �The Tiger�. Vinayan, as usual, made everybody wonder, and came up with an average �Boyfriend�. �Achuvinte Amma� was another film that made its mark.

Lohithadas went to Tamil and scored a no-loss hit with �Kasturimaan�. Jayaraj is busy setting world records. Joshi gave a pretty good �Naran�.

Watch out for Roshan Andrews and Anwar Rasheed in the year 2006.

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