Top 100 Malayalam movies until CE 2000

An untouchable girl is found dead with her illegitimate child, the child is adopted by a postman, a high caste Hindu. No one knows the true identity of the real father of the child, until the childs real father, also an upper caste Hindu acknowledges paternity. As the story unfolds, the real father becomes agitated by guilt and anguish and then finally questions his previous actions. The film ends with the Masters own resolutions and true acceptance of his own child and self.

A poor man living in Kerela follows his heart and instincts to save a child from the gutter, brings her up with love, only to find later in life that inevetibly she becomes spoilt and arrogant. However, lessons of universal life are finally learned together.

Karuthamma, the daughter of a Hindu fisherman, falls in love with a Muslim fish trader. However, social prejudices seem to ruin their love life and invite the wrath of their communities.

A Muslim trader falls in love with his dead friend's sister who is the daughter of a prostitute. However, her mother forces her to marry a wealthy man who has an eye on her.

Vishwam and Sita, who resist opposition from their families, elope and marry. The unemployed couple begin a happy married life but later land in a sea of perils without a source of income.

An ancient temple is neglected to ruins and is tended only by the Velichappadu 'village oracle'. When the priest goes on leave, a young man takes up his job and forms a relationship with Velichappadu's daughter.

Ravi is a young man who was a union leader in his college days. Now he is seeking a job in Independent India. He faces rejections where he goes. In flashbacks, the independence struggle is shown with the current everyday life of Ravi.

Sankarankutty, a village simpleton, lives a carefree life, indulges in childish pursuits, lives off the money given to him by his sister (working elsewhere as a servant), and eats quite voraciously. Then one day he gets married, but the wife is frustrated by his aimless lifestyle & irresponsible attitude (even after she gets pregnant). So she goes back to her parents. Meanwhile, his sister who is now living with her lover, can no longer provide for him, and a kind widow who used to care for him passes away. He has nowhere & nobody to fall back on, and from this point on, as he starts a job as assistant to a lorry driver, he starts looking at life in a whole new way and begins to mature as well.

Besides a long glittering river, some men raise a pole. A tent balloons up. Where there was wide sand and the sound of water lapping, there is now a truck, chairs, hoops, stools, ropes, goats, a lioness, a pair of fat girls, some bicycles, and an old man with a philosopher's dignity, putting on white paste. Across a dirt road, the circus truck comes to a village. The tent goes up. Schoolboys run to the tent. Village women come and watch an acrobat roll a hoop across a tightrope. A lion leaps from the edge of one stool - across darkness - onto another stool. A gap-toothed old woman gazes at a goat on a tight rope; her eyes are wide with curiosity. For three days the circus makes small ripples in the life of this village. Municipal permits are required. At a toddy shop, a soldier befriends the circus strongman; a pump attendant sits on a rock each day watching a village girl bathe and dry her hair. The dwarf brings back to the circus a watermelon larger than his head.

This is a National award winning and critically acclaimed film by P Padmarajan, based on his novel of the same name. The film explores the angst of a teenage mind remorseful of murder and the changes life brings in the aftermath.

Thakara (Prathap Pothan) is an orphan. He is mentally immature, but kindhearted. He has a close relationship with Subhashini (Surekha), the dream girl of the village. Thakara was betrayed by the words of Chellappanashari (Nedumudi Venu) and indulges in a physical relationship with Subhashini. Subhashini's father Mathu Mooppan (K. G. Menon) finds out their relation and beats Thakara unconscious. Thakara, fully filled with revenge on Mooppan, runs away. Once he earns enough money to buy a knife, he returns and kills Mooppan. Subhashini refuses to go with Thakara, who proposes to her after killing her father. With no way to escape, Thakara finds his end in front of a running train.

Pavithran, a thief who was trying to sell stolen items meets a crooked merchant in the town. But an incident occurs afterward changing his entire life.

The protagonist is trapped within himself and is unable to comprehend the changes taking place around him.

An infamous tabla player of a touring drama group goes missing. Later on, Sub-inspector Jacob Eeraly investigates the case.

A brother and a sister who share a strong bond get separated owing to some misunderstandings.

Alice, who lives with her brother, is a teacher at a convent school in Ooty. A neglected and unruly son of a MP, Xavier Puthooran joins the school in Alice's class. Alice manages to turn him into a prize student. Her boy friend Capt. Thomas feels intensely jealous of the attention Alice bestows upon Ravi.

Aadaminte vaariyellu depicts parellel stories of three women who are subjected to various forms of patriarchy and exploitation by the men around them and the society at large, and how they try to literally break free from it.

A couple who lost their daughter in an accident decides to adopt a girl from the local orphanage. But problems arise when the child's real mother seeks to find her.

The story of an impotent wrestler whose wife is driven to an extra-marital affair.

A young girl on an unannounced visit changes the lives of her lonely grandmother and several other people in the neighbourhood by her joie de vivre.

A henpecked politician wants his name attached to a new bridge, even if that means destroying another, perfectly serviceable bridge.

The film explores a love triangle between the characters played by Nedumudi Venu, Mohanlal and Menaka. Appunni and Ammukutty are lovers from childhood. Ammukutty's father Ayyappan Nair arranges her marriage with a rich school teacher, Menon Mash. Ammukutty is happy to break her relationship with Appunni and get married to the rich Menon Mash.

A young girl who is brought up in an orphanage starts college in a different city where she meets her sponsor (whom she doesn't recognize) - a chronic bachelor and another young man who is all smitten by her.