Oppam

Oppam (transl. Along) is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film written and directed by Priyadarshan from a story by Govind Vijayan. It was produced by Antony Perumbavoor for Aashirvad Cinemas and starred Mohanlal and Samuthirakani. The film contains songs composed by the group 4 Musics, and the score was composed by Ron Ethan Yohann. N. K. Ekambaram was the cinematographer.

The plot follows Jayaraman (Mohanlal), a blind lift operator and caretaker in an apartment building. He is the loyal friend of Justice Krishnamoorthy (Nedumudi Venu), he cares for his schoolgirl daughter Nandini (Meenakshi). Krishnamoorthy gets murdered by a serial killer Vasudevan (Samuthirakani) who had a grudge against him. Jayaraman is framed for the crime, and must protect Nandini from Vasu and prove his innocence.

Regular collaborators Mohanlal and Priyadarshan were expected to work on a film in 2015, but it was postponed before principal photography began until the following year. Priyadarshan decided to make another film with Mohanlal, and began looking at screenplays. Both men wanted a break from their usual comedy films. Priyadarshan agreed on a short story by Govind Vijayan which was suggested by Mohanlal. The director developed a plot and screenplay, which was on its final draft in February 2016. The film began principal photography in March and ended in June; it was filmed in Kochi, Ooty, Vagamon, Thiruvananthapuram, and Idukki.

Oppam was released in India on 8 September 2016 and internationally on 21 September 2016 where it received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Mohanlal's performance and the film's narrative style. The film performed really well at the box office earning above 52 crores ₹ worldwide theatrical gross collection. It became the third-highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time and the second-highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year, behind Pulimurugan. At the Filmfare Awards South, the film was nominated in five categories (including Best Film, Best Director for Priyadarshan and Best Actor for Mohanlal) and won in the categories of Best Lyricist (for Madhu Vasudevan) and Best Male Playback Singer (for M. G. Sreekumar). It was dubbed and released in Telugu as Kanupapa on 3 February 2017, and in Hindi as Prime Witness. It was remade in Kannada in 2019 as Kavacha.