Stories often revolve around the domestic and social lives of ordinary people, avoiding the "larger-than-life hero" template common in other commercial industries. Social Reflection:

In Bollywood or Telugu cinema, the hero can fly. In Malayalam cinema, the hero now gets beaten, cries, and goes to therapy.

To watch a Malayalam film is to take a crash course in the culture of Kerala. You will learn about the food ( Karimeen pollichathu), the festivals ( Pooram ), the politics (the red flag and the congress hand), the anxieties (marriage, migration, money), and the unique, melancholic joy of monsoon rain.