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The Top Malayalam Commercial Hits of 2013

Malayalam cinema saw a deluge of releases in 2013, and a few managed to set the cash registers ringing. The films also earned hefty satellite rights.

Here we pick five films that made the biggest impact at the box office, which is not necessarily based on the exact figures earned at the cash windows. This means that films like Lal Jose’s Pullippulikalum Aattinkuttiyum and Vinayan’s Dracula are not considered here, regardless of the money made at the cinemas.?

Drishyam

Dir: Jeethu Joseph

The critics raved about the film and the masses loved it as well. Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam could be the highest grossing film of the year.

The film gave Mohanlal a fresh lease of life and even as we write this, continues to run to packed shows everywhere.

Sringaravelan

Director: Jose Thomas

Dileep’s magic sets the box office on fire, even with brainless comedies like Sringaravelan, Sound Thoma, Kammath & Kammath and Nadodi Mannan.

Jose Thomas, who made the blockbuster Mayamohini last year, repeated his success story with the loud buffoonery of Sringaravelan. At times nonsense sells more than anything else.

Romans

Director: Boban Samuel

The hit pair of Kunchacko Boban and Biju Menon are criminals on the run who get mistaken for Christian priests. This shameless copy of the Sean Penn-Robert De Niro film We’re No Angels was a masala entertainer that minted money. 

Memories

Director: Jeethu Joseph

A cop who hits the bottle after his wife and daughter are killed is brought back to investigate a crime. Prithviraj’s drunken cop was one of three good characters in Malayalam that the actor did in 2013, the other two being Celluloid and Mumbai Police.

For Jeethu Joseph, Memories was another hit after last year’s My Boss.

Punyalan Agarbathis

Director: Ranjith Shankar

Jayasurya’s Thrissur slang turned out to be a big draw as Passenger director Ranjith Shankar came up with this laugh riot.

Jayasurya’s character Joy Thakkolkkaran aims to turn rich and the business he chooses is making incense sticks from elephant dung. For the hero, it was another successive hit after the cute Philips & the Monkey Pen.