Malayalam Cinema
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50 free Malayalam Cinema trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Malayalam cinema, the film industry of Kerala, punches far above its size. Its stories are remade across the country and beyond, its actors and directors collect national honours, and a run of inventive films since the 2010s has won it a new audience on streaming. This quiz covers the whole sweep: the silent-era pioneers and the first talkies, the comedies and family dramas of the 1980s and 1990s that fans can recite from memory, the romances, and the new-wave thrillers and survival stories that followed. Expect questions on plots, characters, remakes, awards, singers and the long careers of Mohanlal and Mammootty. It is written for anyone who grew up on these films and for newcomers who found them later. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you can play straight through or print the questions for a group.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Mohanlal thriller about a cable TV operator was remade in Chinese as Sheep Without a Shepherd?
Drishyam
Drishyam was remade in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Sinhala before its Chinese version reached cinemas in 2019.
Q 02Which 1984 children's fantasy from Navodaya Studio was the first Indian film to be shot in 3D?
My Dear Kuttichathan
My Dear Kuttichathan, about three children who free a goblin from a sorcerer, returned to cinemas in Hindi in 1998 as Chhota Chetan, with new scenes, and was a hit all over again.
Q 03Which 1993 Fazil thriller inspired the remakes Chandramukhi in Tamil and Bhool Bhulaiyaa in Hindi?
Manichitrathazhu
Manichitrathazhu won Shobana the National Film Award for best actress for playing both Ganga and her alter ego Nagavalli.
Q 04Which 1989 Malayalam comedy, in which a ransom call reaches the wrong number, was remade in Hindi as Hera Pheri?
Ramji Rao Speaking
Ramji Rao Speaking was the first film by the director duo Siddique–Lal, and it was remade in eight languages, from Tamil and Telugu to Sinhala and Punjabi.
Q 05In Nadodikkattu, Dasan and Vijayan sail for Dubai but are tricked into landing in which Indian city?
Chennai
Chennai is where the boatman Gafoorka drops the pair after promising them Dubai; they swim ashore, change into Arab robes and only then spot signboards in Tamil.
Q 06Which Malayalam star, known as the Evergreen Hero, holds a Guinness record for playing the lead in 720 films?
Prem Nazir
Prem Nazir holds a second Guinness record too: he played opposite the same heroine, Sheela, in 130 films.
Q 07Before becoming a film star, Mammootty spent two years in the Kerala town of Manjeri working as what?
A lawyer
A lawyer by training, Mammootty earned an LL.B. from a government college in Ernakulam and practised until films took over.
Q 08Which Bollywood actress played Meera in Harikrishnans, a film released with two different endings?
Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla's Meera chose Mohanlal in one version and Mammootty in the other, so each star's fans could watch their hero win.
Q 09Manjummel Boys recreates a real 2006 rescue of a friend who fell into a deep pit at which Kodaikanal site?
Guna Caves
Guna Caves take their name from Gunaa, the 1991 Kamal Haasan film shot there, which brought more tourists to the site.
Q 10Which actor, the son of Mammootty, made his screen debut in the 2012 crime film Second Show?
Dulquer Salmaan
Dulquer Salmaan took a three-month acting course at the Barry John studio before Second Show, in which he played a gangster named Harilal.
Q 11Mohanlal won a National Film Award for Vanaprastham as a master of which Kerala dance-drama?
Kathakali
Kathakali runs through the film: Kunjikuttan is admired on stage yet disowned by his upper-caste father, and Vanaprastham also won the national award for best feature.
Q 12Kaliyattam, which won Suresh Gopi a National Film Award, retells which Shakespeare tragedy?
Othello
Othello becomes Kannan Perumalayan, a Theyyam artist, with the actor Lal as the scheming Paniyan in the Iago role.
Q 13In Jallikattu, India's entry for the 93rd Academy Awards, a village spends a day hunting which animal?
A buffalo
A buffalo slips its bindings before the village butcher can slaughter it, and the chase made Jallikattu the third Malayalam film India sent to the Oscars.
Q 21Which film about Karuthamma, a fisherman's daughter, first took the President's Gold Medal to South India?
Chemmeen
Chemmeen paired Sheela's Karuthamma with Madhu's Pareekutty, and its songs were composed by Salil Chowdhury to lyrics by Vayalar.
Q 22Which maker of the silent film Vigathakumaran gives his name to Kerala's highest cinema honour?
J. C. Daniel
J. C. Daniel produced, directed, wrote, photographed, edited and starred in Vigathakumaran, and is widely recognised as the father of Malayalam cinema.
Q 23Which director of Swayamvaram and Elippathayam received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2004?
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Q 14Mammootty won a National Film Award for playing which leader in an English-language biopic by Jabbar Patel?
Bhimrao Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ambedkar was a part Mammootty hesitated to take, as it meant shaving off his moustache; once in, he promised director Jabbar Patel ten days a month until the film was finished.
Q 15Before acting took over, Mohanlal was the Kerala state champion of 1977 and 1978 in which sport?
Wrestling
Wrestling brought Mohanlal a state title around the time he shot his first film, Thiranottam, which took more than 25 years to reach a cinema.
Q 16Which 2019 film about four brothers in a fishing village near Kochi features Fahadh Faasil as Shammi?
Kumbalangi Nights
Kumbalangi Nights made the pompous, chauvinistic Shammi a cult figure, and many of his lines became popular catchphrases.
Q 17Which 2015 romance follows Nivin Pauly's George from school to adulthood and introduced Sai Pallavi?
Premam
Premam was Sai Pallavi's first major film, and her turn as the college lecturer Malar won her the Filmfare award for best female debut.
Q 18Which 2014 Anjali Menon film follows three cousins, Arjun, Kuttan and Divya?
Bangalore Days
Bangalore Days was remade in Tamil as Bangalore Naatkal and, nearly a decade on, in Hindi as Yaariyan 2.
Q 19Which 2015 romance retells the real 1960s love story of Kanchanamala and her sweetheart from Mukkam?
Ennu Ninte Moideen
Ennu Ninte Moideen ends with him dying while saving fellow passengers in a boat accident, and Kanchanamala moving into his home as his unmarried widow.
Q 20Which Mohanlal thriller about Stephen Nedumpally was Prithviraj Sukumaran's debut as a director?
Lucifer
Lucifer led to a sequel, L2: Empuraan, which Prithviraj again directed while also taking a starring role.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan pioneered a new wave in Malayalam cinema with his 1972 debut, and his third feature won a British Film Institute award for originality.
Q 24In Mathilukal, Mammootty plays which real writer who falls for an unseen woman across a prison wall?
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer wrote the autobiographical novel behind the film, and his fellow inmate Narayani stays unseen from start to finish.
Q 25Which Malayalam action star died in 1980 when a helicopter stunt went wrong on the set of Kolilakkam?
Jayan
Jayan was hanging from the helicopter's landing skids during a retake when it lost balance and crashed.
Q 26Which singer, who debuted in Kalpadukal, has won the National Award for best male playback singer eight times?
K. J. Yesudas
K. J. Yesudas, known to admirers as Gaanagandharvan, has recorded more than 50,000 songs, and no other male singer has won that national award as often.
Q 27Which comic actor won the National Film Award for best actor as Abu, a poor attar seller longing to make Hajj?
Salim Kumar
Salim Kumar hosted the television comedy show Comicola before entering films, and Adaminte Makan Abu also won the national award for best film.
Q 28Which actress made a 2014 comeback in How Old Are You after a long break that began with her marriage?
Manju Warrier
Manju Warrier first came back as a dancer, performing a Kuchipudi recital at the Guruvayur temple two years before the film.
Q 29Which 1989 film stars Mohanlal as Sethumadhavan, whose constable father wants him to be a police inspector?
Kireedam
Kireedam takes its title from the metaphorical crown the villagers of Ramapuram bestow on Sethumadhavan after he takes on the thug Keerikadan Jose.
Q 30Which 1995 film stars Mohanlal as Aadu Thoma, a quarry owner at war with his headmaster father?
Spadikam
Spadikam cast Thilakan as the father, who has a teacher fail the boy on purpose in the belief that low grades will make him study harder.