Since Jeethu Joseph’s Mohanlal-starrer Drishyam in 2013, crossed the Rs 50 crore mark, it marked a turning point in Malayalam cinema. It became the first Malayalam film to officially reach this milestone. Until then, crore clubs were something fans only read about in relation to Hindi, Tamil, or Telugu films. While some believed Kerala’s film industry would eventually reach that scale, no one anticipated that Drishyam would be the film that opened the door.
Pulimurugan pushes Malayalam cinema into the big league
Just three years later, Mohanlal repeated the feat by taking Malayalam cinema into the Rs 100 crore club. His action blockbuster Pulimurugan (2016) grossed Rs 139.5 crore worldwide, according to Sacnilk, proving that the industry had entered a new era. The film’s massive success showed that Malayalam cinema had grown in ambition, scale, and box office potential.
Rs 300 Crore club is the new benchmark for Malayalam cinema
Today, Rs 50 crore benchmark has shifted to Rs 300 crore. The highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, ended its theatrical run with a global collection of Rs 303.67 crore.
Long before Drishyam made history, Malayalam cinema hit its first major milestone, Rs 5 crore way back in 1991. The film that achieved it was Mohanlal’s classic comedy-drama Kilukkam, directed by Priyadarshan. With Revathi, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar, and Innocent, it is still regarded as one of the finest Malayalam comedies ever made. The film broke several collection records and marked a key moment in the industry’s growth.
A producer’s doubts before a historic success
Producer R Mohan of Good Knight Films was not entirely confident about Kilukkam before its release. The film’s budget was unusually high for that era. Malayalam films were typically made for Rs 20–25 lakh, but Kilukkam was produced on a budget of Rs 60 lakh, making it the most expensive Malayalam film of its time. Mohan recalled that even his earlier film Iyer the Great (1990), featuring Mammootty, was made for Rs 50 lakh.
After watching the preview, Mohan worried that the film was simply a collection of jokes without a strong story, and he questioned how such an expensive project could recover its cost. However, Priyadarshan remained fully confident.
The bet that changed Malayalam cinema
In an appearance on Safari TV’s Charithram Enniloode, Mohan revealed that Priyadarshan even made an unusual proposal: if the film collected more than Rs 1 crore, the director wanted the remake rights for other languages. At the time, Priyadarshan’s salary was only around Rs 50,000–60,000, and Mohan didn’t believe any Malayalam film could collect Rs 1 crore. So he agreed.
What followed exceeded everyone’s expectations. Kilukkam collected Rs 5 crore, which was a big number for the industry at that time and broke all previous box office records. Priyadarshan earned Rs 8–10 lakh from selling the remake rights in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, creating another record for Malayalam cinema. Films like Kilukkam, Drishyam, and Pulimurugan each played a crucial role in expanding Malayalam cinema’s reach and box office potential.