To understand the current "Golden Age" of Malayalam cinema, one must look back at the Parallel Cinema movement of the 1980s, led by titans like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Aravindan. However, the more culturally pervasive movement was the "Middle Cinema" pioneered by the writer-director duo of Sreenivasan and Mohanlal.

For decades, Malayalam cinema has held a unique position in the Indian film landscape. While other industries often prioritized escapism—grand palaces, righteous heroes, and black-and-white morality—Kerala’s cinema dug its heels into the mud. It chose to tell stories of the soil, the rain, and the flawed human beings caught in between. To understand Malayalam cinema is to understand the Kerala psyche: a complex cocktail of high literacy, political awakening, deep-rooted family structures, and an inherent melancholy.