Tharun Moorthy Films Before Athimanoharam: A Watch Guide

Short answer: Tharun Moorthy has made only three feature films, Operation Java (2021), Saudi Vellakka (2022) and Thudarum (2025), but they share one idea. Each starts with a small, very ordinary Kerala problem (a cyber-cell case, a petty court case, a taxi driver's car seized by the police) and follows it until it takes over people's lives. His fourth film, Athimanoharam, reunites him with Mohanlal and is due in theatres on 24 December 2026. If you only have time for one film before then, watch Thudarum. If you want to understand how he thinks, watch Saudi Vellakka.

The timing is why this is worth doing now. In the last week of October, producer Ashiq Usman announced that the final edit of Athimanoharam is locked and repeated the Christmas-eve release date. That leaves about eight weeks to catch up on a filmmaker who went from a pandemic-era debut with no stars to one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films ever in four years.

Who is Tharun Moorthy?

Moorthy is from Vaikom, and he came to films the long way round. He acted in theatre and kathakali from a young age, then worked as an assistant professor of computer science engineering and made television advertisements before moving to features. The ad work, according to his Wikipedia profile, is where he learned much of his craft.

That background explains a lot about the films. The engineer shows in how carefully he researches systems, and the theatre actor shows in how much trust he puts in unknown faces.

The three films, in order

Operation Java (2021): the cyber cell

Operation Java came out on 12 February 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, when few people were going to cinemas.

The film follows a cyber-cell police unit in Kochi over about a year and a half, helped by two unemployed engineering graduates (Balu Varghese and Lukman Avaran) on temporary contracts. Their cases include film piracy, job fraud and a murder, and the film is based on real-life cases. It is a thriller, but the two unemployed graduates at its centre give it a second subject: what a Kerala degree-holder does when the jobs are not there.

It is also where his casting habit starts: a large ensemble of character actors (Binu Pappu, Irshad, Lukman Avaran, Vinayakan, Shine Tom Chacko) rather than a single marquee name. Operation Java premiered on ZEE5 on 15 May 2021. In October 2025 Moorthy announced a sequel, Operation Cambodia.

Saudi Vellakka (2022): the court case

This is the film close followers of Malayalam cinema tend to name as his best. A boy playing cricket on a rooftop hits an elderly woman, Ayisha, with a vellakka (a tender coconut used as a ball). She slaps him, a loose tooth falls out, a neighbour with his own grudge stokes the anger, and the boy's family files a police case. Years later the boy has grown up and is close to getting a Gulf visa when a court summons arrives. The case is still open.

The result is a quiet film about how a tiny quarrel can grind through a slow justice system for years, with magistrates changing, files going missing and complainants not turning up, and about the people it wears down along the way. Most of the cast were unfamiliar faces rather than stars.

It was scheduled for 20 May 2022 and postponed, then opened on 2 December 2022 to positive reviews. It was screened in the Indian Panorama section of the 53rd IFFI and later won the National Film Award for Best Malayalam Feature Film. Its reported budget was ₹3.1 crore.

Thudarum (2025): the star film

After two films without stars, Moorthy made a film with the biggest star of all. Thudarum (released 25 April 2025, working title L360 because it was Mohanlal's 360th film) casts Mohanlal as Shanmugham, called Benz, a former film stuntman who now drives a taxi in Perunad and lives quietly with his wife Lalitha (Shobana). His beloved old Ambassador car ends up seized by the police, and his attempt to get it back pulls him into something much darker. It is best watched knowing as little as possible.

Moorthy wrote the screenplay with K. R. Sunil, from Sunil's story. The film was made on an estimated budget of ₹28 crore and has an estimated box office of ₹234 to 235 crore, making it one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films ever. Critics singled out Prakash Varma, until then known mainly as an advertising filmmaker, as the police officer at the centre of the conflict. Thudarum has streamed on JioHotstar since 30 May 2025.

What links the films: the Tharun Moorthy method

A small trigger inside a big system

None of the films starts with a grand crime. A pirated film, a slap and a car left for repairs are where the stories begin. What makes them grow is an institution: the police in Operation Java and Thudarum, the courts in Saudi Vellakka. The problems are real ones (cybercrime, a clogged court system, police power), and the films stay entertaining while they make the point. If you liked the procedural detail in the films covered in our piece on the rise of Malayalam crime thrillers, this is the same tradition with a more social eye.

Faces before names

Look at the casts and a pattern shows. Operation Java leans on character actors, Saudi Vellakka on mostly unfamiliar faces, and Lukman Avaran leads in both. Mohanlal in Thudarum is the exception, and even there the film gives Prakash Varma, then best known for advertising work, the role critics talked about most.

A repertory company

Watch the three films in a row and you start seeing the same people. Binu Pappu acts in all three and is co-director on Athimanoharam. Nishadh Yusuf edited or co-edited all three. Jakes Bejoy scored Operation Java and Thudarum and returns for Athimanoharam, as does Thudarum cinematographer Shaji Kumar. Irshad appears in Operation Java and Thudarum. It is the kind of loyal team that also shaped the new generation Malayalam cinema of the 2010s.

What we know about Athimanoharam

Here is what has been officially announced so far:

• Title and look: the film, known until then as L 366 (Mohanlal's 366th), was named on Vishu (April 2026) with a poster of Mohanlal in khaki among Sabarimala pilgrims.
• Story: Mohanlal plays Sub Inspector T. S. Lovelajan, his return to a police role after a long gap. Meera Jasmine plays his wife, Naisy. The makers describe it as a police procedural combined with a family drama.
• Writer: Ratheesh Ravi, who wrote Ishq and Adi. As with Thudarum, Moorthy is working from another writer's story.
• Crew: Shaji Kumar (camera), Jakes Bejoy (music), Vivek Harshan (editing) and Vishnu Govind (sound design), with Binu Pappu as co-director. Ashiq Usman produces.
• Progress: Mohanlal began dubbing in mid-October, according to Cinema Express, and on 27 October producer Ashiq Usman announced that the final edit is locked.
• Release: 24 December 2026, in theatres.

The interesting question is the switch in roles. In Thudarum, Mohanlal played an ordinary man crushed by the police. In Athimanoharam he is the police. Given how sharply Moorthy's films look at institutions, we expect the uniform to be part of the film's question rather than simply a hero costume. Nothing about the plot beyond that has been revealed.

A watch order before 24 December

1. Thudarum (JioHotstar), if you only watch one. It is the film Athimanoharam will be compared with, and the best showcase of what Moorthy does with a star.
2. Saudi Vellakka, for the purest version of his style: no stars, a slow burn, a case that never ends.
3. Operation Java (ZEE5), especially if you like investigation dramas, and before the Operation Cambodia sequel arrives.

Prefer release order? Watch them 2021, 2022, 2025 and you will see the same ideas getting bigger, more confident and more expensive with each film.

After Athimanoharam

Two more Moorthy projects are listed on his Wikipedia page with release dates to be announced: Torpedo, which he directs but did not write, and Operation Cambodia, the sequel to Operation Java. For other filmmakers worth following, see our guides to Girish AD's films and Indian directors to follow, and our list of upcoming Malayalam movies.

FAQ

When does Athimanoharam release?

The announced theatrical release date is 24 December 2026. The producer repeated the date on 27 October when he announced that the final edit is locked.

Which Tharun Moorthy film won a National Award?

Saudi Vellakka won the National Film Award for Best Malayalam Feature Film. It was also screened in the Indian Panorama section of the 53rd IFFI.

Is Athimanoharam a sequel to Thudarum?

No. It is a separate story from a different writer, Ratheesh Ravi, although it reunites Mohanlal with Tharun Moorthy and several of the Thudarum crew.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Tharun Moorthy, Operation Java, Saudi Vellakka and Thudarum (credits, release dates, budgets and box-office estimates)
• Cinema Express, "Mohanlal–Tharun Moorthy's L 366 titled Athimanoharam; new poster out", 15 April 2026
• The Times of India, "Mohanlal shares Onam poster of 'Athimanoharam'", 27 August 2026
• NewKerala, "Mohanlal's Athimanoharam final edit locked, December 24 release confirmed", 27 October 2026