This story is from January 05, 2021

Best 20 Malayalam movies from 2001 to 2020

Updated: Jan 05, 2021, 19:19 IST

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As we enter a new decade, Kochi Times invited National Award-winning film critic CS Venkiteswaran to list his top 20 movies of the past two decades

Best 20 Malayalam movies from 2001 to 2020

Since the turn of the millennium, Mollywood films have been progressing from strength to strength. From ‘mass’ entertainers with larger-than-life heroes to the so-called new-gen movies, filmmakers have been pushing the envelope in terms of content, with the result that Mollywood films have earned a reputation nationally and even internationally for original ideas and meticulous execution.Talking about the dominant theme in Mollywood movies in the past two decades, National Award-winning film critic CS Venkiteswaran, who has compiled this list of top 20 movies from 2001 to 2020 for Kochi Times, says, “There was a trend of moving away from mega narratives; there was a huge switch from time to space. Earlier, the time span was given more importance as the entire narrative would focus on this macho hero – his past and future. But if you look at the new-generation films, you would notice that the majority of them happen in a short span of time – say a day or a week. So, the time element has shrunk and this allowed them to work on space, and that’s why the milieu gets prominence.”Here's his list (in chronological order):Neythukaran (2002)Directed by Priyanandan