The other day, Kerala Film Producers' Association published a list of Malayalam films released in 2025, mentioning their commercial performance. Audiences and film personalities have voiced out against the association's list. Earlier, Narivetta filmmaker Anuraj Manohar asked why his film, starring Tovino Thomas, is not part of the list and questioned the association's selection criteria. Recently, actor Nivin Pauly also questioned the relevance of making the list of the commercial successful and unsuccessful films public. Speaking at a press conference where he promoted his film Sarvam Maya, Nivin said, "Every business has its ups and downs, profit and loss. There is no need to make a list like this public. Something like this has not been done before." According to Nivin, such a practice, which comes at a time when everyone in Malayalam cinema is trying to take the industry forward, would act as a factor keeping investors away from the industry.
Nivin Pauly has had many commercially unsuccessful films in the recent past, despite many of them being critically appreciated. Coming back to Kerala Film Producers' Association's list, it categorises only a handful of films that hit theatres this year as 'superhits' and 'hits'. Netizens have since been discussing why Eko is only called a hit, despite it making more in net profit as compared to Empuraan, which is described as a 'superhit' film. They also question the absence of Sumathi Valavu from either category.
Here is the complete list:
Superhits
Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra
Thudarum
L2: Empuraan
Dies Irae
Alapuzha Gymkhana
Hridayapoorvam
Officer On Duty
Rekhachithram
Hits
Kalamkaval (Which could enter the 'superhit' category as it is running in theatres even now)
Eko
The Pet Detective
Prince and Family
Ponman
Padakkalam
Bromance
