It’s the season of thrillers in Malayalam!

For the last few years, Malayalam film industry has seen a real dearth in quality thriller flicks. Though there have been some occasional releases, they didn’t manage to get a wide reception like a ‘Memories’ or ‘Mumbai Police’. In the meanwhile, other language films like ‘Ratchasan’, ‘Thadam’ and ‘Kaithi’ enjoyed great run at the Kerala box office which was a clear indicator of the native audience’s love for the genre.

Finally, at the start of the new decade, has come ‘Anjaam Pathiraa’ directed by Midhun Manuel Thomas. It’s whodunnit thriller centred around a serial killer. The film that got released last Friday has opened to tremendous response all over. Extra shows are being added in several centres and it is fast moving towards a blockbuster status.

‘Anjaam Pathiraa’ might well have started a new trend in the industry. Currently, there are a handful of thriller films in the making and almost all of them look promising. Mammootty’s ongoing film ‘The Priest’, Tovino’s ‘Forensic’, Fahadh Faasil starrer ‘Thankam’, CBI 5, Martin Prakkat’s upcoming film with Kunchacko Boban and Joju George, and Rajeev Ravi’s next with Asif Ali are some of the thriller films that are all in various stages of production.

It will be a much-needed refreshing change for the Malayali the audience as they have been continuously fed with feel-good films and rom-coms. It’s time we expand our wings and explore other pure genre films.