At an age when most stars are consciously shrinking their calendars, 66-year-old Mohanlal has just handed his fans seven reasons to visit theatres, get immersed in the magic of cinema and his excellence.
The actor, on August 18, shared his upcoming line-up that reads less like a release schedule and and more like a showcase of variety. It features some of ‘s promising names: Vishnu Mohan, Anoop Sathyan, Priyadarshan, Dileesh Pothan, Sathyan Anthikad, Jude Anthany Joseph and Jeethu Joseph.
“Exciting stories, exciting journeys and some very special filmmakers,” he wrote, alongside a glimpse of the seven projects.
Here’s the post:
The slate feels less like a victory lap and more like ’s way of exploring different genres — and that seems to be the point.
The thriller that started it all
The first of these to be announced was the Vishnu Mohan project, tentatively titled L367.
Details remain scarce, but the film is expected to be an intense thriller, reportedly drawing from Operation Ganga — the February 2022 evacuation mission that rescued Indian citizens, mostly medical students, stranded in Ukraine during the Russian invasion — though not as a direct adaptation.
If the rumours are anything to go by, it puts Mohanlal in territory he rarely visits: a ripped-from-the-headlines survival thriller rooted in a real, recent geopolitical crisis.
A full circle with Priyadarshan
Perhaps the most sentimentally loaded entry on the list is , which reunites the director with the actor who headlined his very first one.
Mohanlal starred in Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, Priyadarshan’s 1984 debut, and now closes the loop as the face of his century mark. Billed as an emotional musical drama, the film carries the kind of narrative symmetry that awards-season profiles are built on — though for now, it exists only as a milestone, with plot details still under wraps.
Fantasy, from an unlikely source
Dileesh Pothan, known for grounded, slow-burn realism in films like Maheshinte Prathikaram and Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, is reportedly steering into fantasy territory with Nedumkandam Miracle.
It’s a genre neither director nor star has been closely associated with, which makes this pairing one of the more intriguing associations on the list. Beyond the title and the genre tag, nothing else has been revealed yet.
New faces, familiar comforts
Rounding out the newer additions are whose film remains largely under wraps, and Anoop Sathyan of Varane Aavashyamund fame, whose project is expected to be a quirky action-comedy thriller. While Mohanlal played a cameo in his , directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, their project will mark his first full-fledged association.
Both mark first-time collaborations with Mohanlal, bringing fresh directorial voices to a slate otherwise built around long-standing partnerships.
Those long-standing partnerships get their due too. After , Mohanlal returns to veteran filmmaker Sathyan Anthikad, a frequent collaborator whose films with the actor include some of Malayalam cinema’s most loved family dramas.
And he reunites once again with Jeethu Joseph, a pairing that has already gifted fans Drishyam and its sequels — which has fans speculating whether this next outing finally is the , or an entirely new film.
Before any of that, Athimanoharam
All seven projects are, for now, on the horizon. , directed by Tharun Moorthy and co-starring Meera Jasmine, arriving in theatres on December 24, 2026. The actor began shooting for the film on August 18 near Pampa region. Written by Ratheesh Ravi, the film also features Mukesh, Jagadish and Manoj K Jayan in key roles.
He’ll also turn up in cameo appearances in Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Khalifa: Part 1 and the Rajinikanth-fronted Jailer 2 — brief detours before the seven-film marathon properly begins.
With a slew of films stacked one after another, the slate is a statement. At 66, Mohanlal isn’t looking back at his legacy — he’s rewriting it, one genre at a time.