This is the time of year when zonkerala.com puts down the list of Top 10 Malayalam feature film directors. The criteria for including the directors are

A- He should have done at least one film in last five years.
B- He should have made a minimum three feature films in his career.
C- Our panel should agree as some other small criteria are also there.

Ranking

I. Joshie – From the Black and White era he was there in industry as director. Joshie is considered most senior; most respected and updated man in the job. Whether it is Mammootty or Mohanlal, Joshie is the king in his sets. This made the bombastic film Twenty 20 possible. He is still churning out hits after hits. No doubt who the showman is.

II. Blessy – Only 4 films old he created his niche in film industry. His fifth film Bramaram is getting ready as we prepare this list.

III. Sathyan Anthikad – This director has given us classics like Sandesham, Nadodikkattu and many other unforgettable films. He has got a magical touch which others can’t imitate. Fans and viewers would love not to think about films which he made by writing stories himself. Many of them featured Meera Jasmin. He made big come back with the super hit Bhagya Devatha.

IV. Anwar Rasheed – Came with a big bang Rajamanikyam. All his films are super hits, though the impact is getting lesser with each film.

V. Lal Jose – This director of mass films has lately directed the film Mulla.

VI. Shafi – People loved him for his films Pulival Kalyanam and Kalyanaraman. His shift from comedy to girly kind of movie has brought down his rank.

VII. Johny Antony – Johny Antony creates his own world with film, whether it is CID Moosa or Thuruppugulan.

VIII. Shaji Kailas – The director who brought out some unique action films has severely lost ground with many of his latest films.

IX. Rafi Mecartin – Though the duo is known mostly for their scripts, they have churned out hit after hit, not considering Love in Singapore. Their shift to direction has almost brought demise for Rajasenan, the director.

X. T.V Chandran – Though known as Art filmmaker his films can’t be seen only through those eyes. Chandran’s Kadhavasheshan is the most underrated film in Malayalam. The film making techniques and the gripping story telling he employed for this suspense film gives a run for money for any commercial film director.

Some readers may think why we haven’t included Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Should we include something we don’t enjoy some thing which doesn’t entertain us or even engage us?

Sure there are fans for him. But we can’t find a reason why every time, only he gets award. May be the jury wants to create a feel among the ordinary public that they are brainy enough to understand what is depicted in the film. If they don’t give him award, the public may consider them as not good enough to understand Adoorji’s stuffs. There are less people seeing his films with interest. Around the world, people watch his films in festival, which comes as a package. He is successful in reaping money as well as acceptable to art lovers (????).

With the recent controversy it becomes more and more clear that the problem lies with the jury.

Bhadran, Jayaraj, Lohithadas, Renjith, Viji Thambi are some of the directors whom we had to keep out as the competition was intense.

Anil C. Menon, B. Unnikrishnan, Pramod Pappan make mediocre thriller films.

One director we all love to watch is K.G George.

People are expecting much from Hariharan.

Venu Nagavally the actor director has done many good movies.

Directors Sibi Malayil, Kamal and Fazil where left out as they lost touch with the society.

Siddique is another director who we expect to get into this list soon.

Sibi’s Aayirathil Oruvan was taken six years ago.

Director Anil should find new type of stories rather than sticking to pre globalised era.

Amal Neerad, Renji Panicker and Roshan Andrews have only done 2 films.

Priyadarshan has almost left Malayalam film industry.

While T.V Chandran has criticized Adoor for making serials, there are some other successful directors who do make serials in the name of film, which was the obvious reason why Major Ravi and V. M Vinu haven’t made into the list.

M. Padmakumar and Bipin Prabhakar are highly overrated directors.

M.Mohanan who made Katha Parayumbol and Passenger director Renjith Shankar gives hope.

Apart from these a group of young talents are landing Malayalam Industry soon.
We are looking forward for a woman director in Malayalam.

Our list and opinion may not be acceptable for you. For some, this may create irritation. What ever the feeling we welcome your thoughts, suggestions, criticism and advices.

We are waiting to listen.