The summer of 2025 was a great one for Mohanlal, whose fans have been showering him with adoration after a torrid few years at the box office. It started with Tharun Moorthy's 'Thudarum' which saw crowds throng their nearest theatres to witness what they were convinced was Mohanlal's 'comeback' film. The sobriquet "Malayalathinte Mohanlal" (Malayalam's Mohanlal) and the phrase "Mohanlal Thudarum" (Mohanlal will continue) spread like wildfire on social media. This celebration was further accentuated with the re-release of the cult classic film 'Chhota Mumbai', with visuals of fans going wild in the theatres gaining attraction. Amidst the festive spirit, there were a few things that irked me about the reaction to the films, which I realised was a worrying trend that has plagued the Malayalam industry since the turn of the century.

When the first look poster of 'Thudarum' was released, it was a still shot that had two people in it - Mohanlal, whose popularity among the masses has now been revitalized, and Shobana, whose name is now nowhere to be seen despite it being used as a major part of early promotions for the film. Even the Padma Bhushan she was conferred with after the release of the movies seems to have gained minimal traction. I remember the narrative was of a potential comeback for both the veterans, but only one of them is being talked about right now.

The film bungled Shobana's return to the big screen. Her character is lost in the haze of machismo exuded by the character of her husband in the film, played by Mohanlal. Shobana is a seasoned veteran who has been around the industry since the age of 14, but she does not seem to be afforded the respect that an artist of her talent deserves. For an actor of her prowess who can very well stand her own against Mohanlal, particularly on account of being one of the best actors the industry has seen, her role in the film is a very insulting one. The Woman in commercial Malayalam cinema seems to be spiraling further and further into irrelevance.

Shobana's character is turned into an object of ridicule and a punching bag to justify the protagonist's 'heroic' exploits, emanating the same nauseating chauvinism that has plagued the industry for years. Mohanlal gets to play the fun father who is beloved by all and is simultaneously the man who will do anything to protect or avenge his family, a template we refuse to let go of no matter how trite, while Shobana's role in the film is the good old wife-mother one-two combo which seems to involve nothing more than either shouting at her family (and being mocked for it by the characters despite her having every reason to do so, in accordance with the plot) or suffering. The film doesn't even care about the subject it says it tackles; the film is about Mohanlal's character being the one man you should never mess with because he will stop at nothing when it comes to vengeance. The honour killing part serves only as a means to justify his violent behaviour in the context of the film. An egregious amount of brutality is meted out to Shobana's and her daughter's characters, and it ends with Shobana's character implying that no matter what is being done to them, her husband would return to take revenge. It seems that all writers in the industry have collectively agreed upon the notion that a movie villain cannot be truly evil until he metes out a concerning level of violence against the female characters. The gratuitous violence is merely a commodity that is used to manufacture 'mass' moments that Mohanlal revels in. I am sick of the father-saviour complex films that reiterate the misogynist narrative of the 'man of the family' being the 'protector', while the mothers are virtually irrelevant.

Another actress who had been absent for a while was Bhavana, also a senior actor with 23 years of experience, who was a victim of sexual assault orchestrated by a leading actor in the industry, and was missing from the industry until 2022. When the news of the 'Chhota Mumbai' re-release came out, Bhavana, who should've been the main talking point, was nowhere to be seen. She played the lead role opposite Mohanlal, which makes the film's success as much hers as it is Mohanlal's, but there isn't a peep about her. The spotlight is hogged by Mohanlal, and even the empty statements of solidarity that were afforded when Bhavana finally spoke up about her abuse by the top stars seem to have no follow-ups of any kind.

What should rightly be a time when we should be having two veteran actresses in the limelight after a significant period of absence from the screen is lost in the adulation of a male superstar. This is how the industry seems to operate. The role that women now play seems to be a mere token one, and there seems to be no effort to make this a safer place for women to flourish.

It looks like Mohanlal is not the only one making his comeback in the industry. In a promotional event for 'Prince and the Family,' Dhyan Sreenivasan kept in character with his buffooning, as he was recorded saying "Dileepettan Thudarum" (brother Dileep will continue) on stage. Dileep, the main accused in the orchestration of the sexual assault of the actress, has been on a PR overdrive of late to whitewash his image. The film also featured Siddique, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault, as a result of which he had gone into hiding for a while. Vijay Babu, who has also been accused of sexual assault, has now started his own comeback trail with a cameo in the recent hit 'Padakkalam', which he also produced.

The commercial Malayalam industry is still in its primitive feudal state - the dearth of well-written female characters and its terrible treatment of those that do somehow escape its clutches is proof enough of this. While Mohanlal and Mammootty continue to 'rule' the industry, their female counterparts don't seem to be getting even a glimpse of the same opportunities. Even Dileep and Siddique, despite the serious allegations that have been levied against them, seem to be respected better. The women who were brave enough to voice their opinions, like Rima Kallingal and Parvathy who were among the more prominent voices of the WCC (Women in Cinema Collective), were promptly blacklisted in the prime of their careers just for speaking up, while the same blacklists and boycotts do not seem to exist for the predators in the industry. If you think about it, for the number of male stars this industry has, rarely is a woman allowed to develop into one, and the ones that do are forced to play by the patriarchal rules that prevail.

On this occasion, I feel compelled to promote Sivaranjini's 'Victoria', which debuted at the 29th IFFK and has had a successful run at the Shanghai International Film Festival, where Meenakshi Jayan won the Best Actress award for her portrayal of the eponymous protagonist. A film directed by a woman with an all-female cast, having successful runs at two international film festivals, is a bright ray of hope in the otherwise bleak Malayalam film sphere.

To conclude my point, Mohanlal thudarum. Mohanlal will continue to exist in the Malayalam industry, as he has done for the last few decades despite bombing at the box office more often than finding success, and so will other powerful men in the industry. Shobanayum Bhavanyum thudarande? Must Shobana and Bhavana also not succeed in the industry?