(1997)
A mafia henchman (Mohanlal) moves to a village and takes over a small temple complex inhabited by a young girl (Manju Warrier) and her surrogate father. Starting off as a mercurial grouch, he soon turns into a benevolent patriarch, protecting citizens from an evil landlord (Narendra Prasad). Probably a turning point in Mohanlal's career. He typecast as the perfect macho star who is never slighted, an unfortunate precedent for the rest of his Malayalam films, which went more or less the same trajectory as Rajni's acting representations in Tamil cinema once he'd reaced superstar status. In its defence, Aaram Thamburan is much more watchable than some of the more megalomaniacal cinema which followed though. Written by Joyojeet Pal