The super success of a comparatively low budget film and the emergence of a junior super star is the high light of Malayalam cinema 2002. MEESA MADHAVAN directed by Lal Jose, which featured Dileep as a village thief, is approaching 200th day of full house exhibition in various centers. (It has crossed 180 days on 20th December). Another salient feature of the year is it has pushed back the three super stars to the rear row. Mohanlal, Mammootty who were holding the industry for the last 20 years as supreme were given a sojourn. Suresh Gopi who climbed to the stature later had his innings over by this time.

2002 imitates the previous year in one aspect. Like last year 2002 has also produced as many as 60 soft porn films in Malayalam. The best way to make quick money has stayed back. The wave known as 'Shakeela wave' was not evident because an equal number of good mainstream popular films with good performers and themes were released, this diverted the attention. However all these films were not able to bring back the balance of a shaky Malayalam film industry. They definitely tried hard to bring back the audience to public theaters. They succeeded in it. But due to the dearth of good films with good story, good performance and enjoyment value commercial success was not attained.

The total number of films released this year has crossed 100. For many years it remained around 80 but in 2002 it has reached 107. The sudden rise in the number is due to the entry of new breed of producers and new banners. They selected back row artists for their minimum investment and left the super filmmakers to their fate.

The trend changed. Dileep a junior hero with his comedy roles started consolidating the general audience. A number of films, which were moderate in collection, came up one by one. Film production rallied round the idea of 'small set up'. It culminated in the super success of 'MEESA MADHAVAN'.

With a moderate budget of rupees one and half crore the success of MM surely sent a good message to the new comers that if a strong story is written perfectly before the shooting and executed well on location it could fetch back the investment in time. MM had the right kind of entertainment value but it is the patience, which was shown by the writer Ranjan Pramod, and director Lal Jose when preparing the script which made the victory possible. They spent a full year on the subject and the script. They did it meticulously and reaped the result.

The joint effort of a merchant with no experience in film producing and an MBA degree holder who did short time job in audio cassette production to bring out MEESA MADHAVAN resulted in an unprecedented victory. The best thing to happen to Malayalam film industry is the entry of new generation producers like Subair and Sudheesh who produced 'MEESA MADHAVAN'.

They corrected the producers of super action films. Even the top directors have turned to moderate budgeting at this juncture of crisis. Suddenly there were good small time producers and new directors. They together brought a number of young new artists in a short period of time though all of them could not prove themselves before the camera. But it has made a lot of difference. The industry could sweep clean the sewage of the big budget political thrillers so far accumulated.

There were notable films during in both the commercial and art streams. 'DANNY' by TV Chandran, 'SESHAM' by T. K. Rajeevkumar were films of high quality with content and narrative aspects vying each other to become excellent celluloid works. Mammooty and Mallika Sarabhai in 'DANNY' did a commendable performance. Mammootty has turned a full time actor this year by choosing well-meant cinema. He stayed away from flicks, otherwise felt good commercial proposition to him. 'ENTEHRIDAYATHINTE UDAMAKKER' by Bharath Gopi attempted a different kind of cinematic experience. SESHAM was a bold attempt from the part of Rajeevkumar, which won state and other awards for best film and actors. Jayaram and Gheethu Mohandas scored well in this film.

'NANDANAM' by Ranjith has become instrumental in changing the course of Malayalam cinema. Though 'NANDANAM' came to the theaters quite late due to financial problems on the part of distributor it sent correct message to the industry to change its ways of lavish production styles. Ranjith himself an expensive scriptwriter and director of super action films realized the industry would not survive if the mega projects were churned out regardless of quality. He suddenly came back to the reality from dreams and made 'NANDANAM' which started attracting the family audiences. 'KUNHIKKOONAN' is another good thing to happen to the commercial cinema. It is still running to packed theaters. With Dileep in two roles it brought back the ordinary human characters to Malayalam film' It tells the simple story of an invalid and his love.

Vinayan who was considered a lucky director who directed a number of blockbuster films obeying his own rules had a success in 'OOMAPPENNINURIYAADAPPAYYAN' and a fall in 'KATTUCHEMBAKAM'. It seems the magic Vinayan touch did not work in his latest film.