The 52nd Kerala State Film Awards showcased an array of promising film ventures in the Malayalam industry. Barring a few movies like Avasa Vyooham, Prappeda, Nishiddho, and Chavittu, most of the winning films are available on streaming platforms.
With some exceptions, this list shows where you can watch everything else.
Streaming on: SonyLIV
Awards: Special Jury Mention – Jeo Baby, Best Actors – Joju George
A consistently engaging anthology where the sum is as good as its parts. In Freedom Fight, we get five compelling stories revolving around a handful of individuals. These individual stories reflect generations of societal conditioning dealing with injustices like sexism, inequality, neglect, and casteism, albeit with varying degrees of severity
Streaming on: Disney+Hotstar
Awards: Best Music Director (Songs) – Hesham Abdul Wahab, Best Film With Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value
Like flipping through the pages of one's most priced photo album, Hridayam is a rush of emotions that's as devastating as it is rewarding. Trust me, resistance is futile. It's a film you need to watch with all your heart after you ask your head to stand in the corner with a finger on its lips…
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Awards: Best Music Director (Background Score) – Justin Varghese, Best Director Dileesh Pothan, Best Character Actress – Unnimaya Prasad, Best Script Adaptation – Shyam Pushkaran, Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Joji is a reworking of Macbeth and while these words might suggest a period setting, Shakespeare's tragedy has been reimagined in contemporary times, on a sprawling rubber plantation in Kerala. Dileesh Pothan's loose adaptation of Macbeth is deeply unsettling. This tale of greed and guilt, crime and punishment will stay with you.
Streaming on: SonyLIV
Awards: Best Playback Singer (Female) – Sithara Krishnakumar
Kaanekkaane is about two layers of stories, and neither one is more important than the other. One layer of the story like in Uyare again is the arc of the protagonist, played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, and the second beautiful layer of the story is about the deeply psychological nature of human beings in general
The story is about this elderly government servant, played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, and his interaction with this young couple played by Tovino Thomas and Aishwarya Lekshmi, the Mayanadi pair.
Streaming on: Netflix
Awards: Best Playback Singer (Male) – Pradeep Kumar, Best VFX – Andrews D'Cruz, Best Sound Mixing – Justin Jose, Best Costumes – Melwy J
Minnal Murali revolves around Jaison (Tovino), a tailor, and Shibu (Guru). Just as their lives have taken some unexpected turns, lightning strikes both of them. Neither gets burnt, let alone electrocuted. They start experiencing more weird things, discovering their superpowers. The rest of the film is about what they decide to do with those powers, and how their paths eventually intersect.
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Awards: Best Actors – Biju Menon
Human beings are fundamentally unknowable. That is the thesis of Sanu John Varughese's terrific first film Aarkkariyam. The title means 'who knows'. By the end of the film, we know a lot, but that only hints at much more, which we will never find out. The characters in this film are ordinary people, caught up, like the rest of us, in the upheaval of COVID-19. But they are also deeply mysterious, hiding secrets that include murder.
Streaming on: Sony Liv
Awards: Best Actors – Joju George
Directed by Ahmmed Khabeer, Madhuram is about people who are waiting in the common room of a government hospital, as one or more of their loved ones are inside the ward. They have made this common room, this ward, their own. They have made it into a kind of home, except that there is a roof of sadness. The madhuram of the title transcends into the movie because the movie is sweet and that is its flavour. So this is not a sad film at all. Through the people who are waiting, we get a sense of what life is and what love is.
Streaming on: Netflix
Awards: Best Actors – Joju George, Best Film Editor – Mahesh Narayanan and Rajesh Rajendran, Best Story Writer – Shahi Kabeer
Directed by Martin Prakkat, Nayattu is about a cop who helps frame a case against a boy who is caught with a girl whose father is a minister. He does this because of the obvious: because his higher up asked him to do it So, Maniyan frames the boy with a false case, with the rest of the film being about how karma comes back to bite.
Streaming on: Sony Liv
Awards: Best Actress – Revathy
In English, the title of Bhoothakaalam translates simply to 'The Past', but when split up, it could also be interpreted as 'The Time of Ghosts'. It feels like a fair reading too because somewhere in the middle of both titles is where Bhoothakaalam finds home—a broken-family drama, although wrapped within the structure of a horror movie, Bhoothakaalam comes strongest when it zooms in on a fractured mother-son relationship following the death of the one person that was keeping them together.
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Awards: Best Character Actor – Sumesh Moor
Kala will batter and dazzle you. This is virtuoso filmmaking. The film puts you through the wringer, gives you a peek into the darkness within, and leaves you with much to ponder. Directed by Rohith VS, Kala speaks about the primal, animalistic nature of men sitting just beneath the veneer of civilization imposed by society. Poke a little and a man, who is a loving father and husband, turns into a creature so savage that he is barely recognizable.
Streaming on: Sony Liv
Awards: Best Sound Design – Renganath Ravee, Best DOP – Madhu Neelakandan, Best Colorist – Liju Prabhakar
Lijo Jose Pellissery's Churuli makes us walk the tightrope between mind-blown and mind-fucked. Usually, films come full circle. But here, it's like a hypnotist's wheel. From the center point of the inciting incident, the narrative (and your head) spins further and further away into an unending whirlpool. Leaving behind several confounding questions Churuli gives you the feeling of a spider getting caught in a web.
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Awards: Best Dubbing Artiste (Female) – Devi S
Drishyam 2 is an able successor to Drishyam in all aspects. In Drishyam 2, the police have not given up and they are still on their quest to solve the case that started in the first film. Georgekutty is someone who will leave no stone unturned to keep his family unscathed and, as per the trend set by the first film, he always has an ace up his sleeve.