Yet the economic picture remains fragile. In 2025, only 15 of the 184 films released were profitable. The total number of films declined from 212 in 2024 to 184, in part because mainstream OTT platforms displayed an unwillingness to purchase Malayalam films. The Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce revealed a total investment of approximately ₹860 crore, with losses of ₹530 crore. These numbers underscore a painful reality: for every Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra , dozens of worthy films struggle to find an audience, and the industry operates on a knife's edge between creative triumph and financial collapse.
: Balan (1938) marked the transition to sound, though early films remained heavily influenced by Tamil and theatre-style aesthetics. Yet the economic picture remains fragile