5 Best Malayalam Films On Streaming Platforms

If you don’t know this then  you don’t know  Indian cinema.  Some of  the  best  films in India are  being made in  Kerala. Don’t believe me?  Watch these  5 modern masterpieces in Malayalam that are available on various streaming platforms.

1. Sudani From Nigeria (Netflix):

Released  in 2018, this absolute heartwarmer  set in  the small idyllic  town  of  Malapurram delineates   the  relationship between  a  local  football coach Majeed(played with  rare  empathy by Soubin Shahir) and a Nigerian  footballer Samuel Abiola  Robinson(playing  himself) when the latter is  forced  to shift into the former’s home  after a  leg injury. The obvious cultural discrepancies are soon  swept aside  as  the two men bond in ways  that  are at  once  moving and  inspiring. Majeed’s mother played  by  Savithri Sreedharan is  a special treat as she  gives her ‘Sudanese’  house guests  home food and  universal  gyan on how  to  feel a  sense  of belonging  in  the  most alien of surroundings.Zakariya  Mohammed directs this exquisite tapestry  of  cultural culmination.

2. Take Off (Hotstar): 

Untrue to its title, Take  Off ,  the  highly acclaimed 2017   film, takes  too long to  take off.  Too many  ifs and buts  are  brought  into play before  we arrive at the  crux which  is  the  kidnapping of  19 Indian nurses  in Iraq .  The  super-talented Fahadh  Faasil  is  wasted  in  a secondary role. Parvathy  Thruvothu in  the central role is  dazzling in her  immersion into  the  nurse’s character. She  is  the film’s  pivot and she knows it. Despite the many liberties with truth this  2017  drama directed by debutant Mahesh Naraynan is worth seeing  for Parvathy’s  powerful  performance.

3. Kumbalangi Nights (Amazon Prime):

This undisputed  masterpiece directed  by  Madhu C Narayanan  tells the  ups and downs in the life of  four brothers in  rural Kerala  who are largely  at loggerheads  but like  all great Indian families,  care deeply for one another  during times of  crises. The crises  here are all to do with the women  who storm  into  the brothers’ lives, in most unexpected ways.  Don’t wait for me to  give away more of the  plot. But I will  reveal one more thing. The  great Fahadh Faasil who has co-produced this  film  has cast himself as the craziest  product of  patriarchal entitlement  seen in our cinema. His  masculine  arrogance is  not only terrifying but also very funny. Like all great cinema this one leaves  you laughing and crying, sometimes at the same time.

4. Ustad Hotel (Hotstar): 

Dulquer Salman  shines  in this 2012 gem  about a young man following his culinary  dreams into a  quicksand  of  fragmented  commitment and  disfigured  aspirations. How Dulquer  rises  out of  the morass  of disenchantment with the help of his aging grandfather r(played  by the brilliant  Thilakan) is  the  theme of this  dreamy  cinema. The  theme of cooking gives  this Anwar Rasheed  directed  beauty  plenty  of  food  for thought. The film is  more than cinema. It is a lesson on how  food in the belly  and love in the heart can solve every  problem.

5. Oppam (Amazon):

The prolific  director  Priyadarshan and Mohanlal  have done  so many films together, most of them  admirable. But none  as deeply satisfying as  this where Mohanlal  plays a blind  watchman (you  heard the oxymoron right) who deals with a serial killer’s  presence in the building. Gripping from  the word go, this  suspense  thriller is unique  because we all can see the killer, but the hero  can’t. I haven’t seen any actor  look so believably blind since Naseeruddin Shah  in Sparsh.