I am a sucker for posters. They are one of my favourite design objects to look at. As an Engineering student, I used to design posters for my college's annual cultural events and would spend a good time working on them. Since and because I used to heavily depend on stock images while grabbing ideas off the internet, I understand how difficult it is to design them. And when it comes to films, it is often out of just an idea. First-look posters have to attract a film's target audience while only depending on that tiny idea sitting only in the director's head. That is why talking about the best ones and appreciating their beauty as well as their creators is important.
Here is a list of posters that were created for Malayalam films which released in 2018. In no specific order and sourced from IMP Awards, IMDb, or the film's respective Facebook pages, with proper credits attributed wherever expected.
These are the best Malayalam posters of 2018:
Designed by Oldmonks, the posters of Venu's adventure drama film Carbon perfectly encapsulates the hidden meaning behind the title as well as the central character's selfish odyssey. Note the elongated hexagonal outline of the poster as well as the geometrical shapes in the title font and then read the tagline.
I am not a fan of posters that are not vertical (portrait) in shape, yet I cannot resist raving about this poster designed by Oldmonks for Lijo Jose Pellissery's sombre drama Ee.Ma.Yau. In the film, the titular character dreams of being sent to the Gods on a gigantic coffin and fanfare. And with this striking first-look poster, we exactly know how big ("breaching a coastline" big), plus giving you a bad taste of death and horror along the way.
Rahul Riji Nair's zany crime comedy drama Dakini certainly switched ON the hype through its vibrant series of posters designed by digital artist Prathool N T. I love the title font so much that I just cannot decide between it and the poster's magnificent colour scheme. Nowhere has a team of four grandmas looked old, lovable, and wicked at the same time. But I don't think I can forgive the makers for the missing Oxford comma.
Trivia - What is surprising to me is that the artist also designed the publicity designs for Rosshan Andrrews's period crime drama Kayamkulam Kochunni. Which are better than the ones designed by Thought Station which went live.
Prasobh Vijayan's crime drama Lilli ran a pretty successful campaign before its release, thanks to ample help from Oldmonks who only raised the bar if we compare this with their first two designs on this list. Giving the central and titular character a bouquet of lilies to hold, a crown of thorns to wear, and an aura and then framing her as a character in a High Renaissance painting makes me want to print it (fresco ed, if possible) and gift it to a friend so that he can expand his own Sistine Chapel collection of movie posters.
The neon colour scheme, especially in the title font, made me spit out my coffee the first time I saw the Oldmonks-designed first poster of Amal Neerad's uppity crime drama Varathan. And then I stopped having coffee for some time because with each poster coming out (even the character ones), I was getting this negative vibe - something bad is going to happen which will uproot the lead characters and their relationship. That is exactly what the film wanted to convey and is.
Another poster designed by Prathool N T, the rusty, neon-induced shades added more fun and expectations to Rafeek Ibrahim's gritty crime comedy Padayottam. It is when you realize that the character (played by Biju Menon) you see in the poster is not as terrifying as he seems to be in the film is what makes this more interesting. (Like an anti-promotion stunt, if you will.) Posters so colourful like these for films like these make me secure my faith in Malayalam cinema.
With Nirmal Sahadev's crime drama Ranam (also known as Detroit Crossing), Oldmonks add some Western touch to their design (and rightly so), which makes this poster featuring the ensemble cast look like that of a potential Hollywood blockbuster. Do note the neon ized font for the title in Malayalam text.
Designed by nologomedia, this charming poster for Rohith V S's fantasy love story Iblis has not only a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL title font but also fantastical factors etched into each and every one of its pixels, which gives you every bit of a hint about what to expect. Iblis is also the third film on this list so far to feature its actors' names on the posters, which is a surely welcome move by Malayalam cinema at large if you ask me.
Oldmonks give Ajoy Varma's slipshod survival drama Neerali (or Nieraali) a direct reference to its title (which means Octopus) than the director himself gave to the film. The immensely likable designs with a heavy dose of honey yellow across the posters, and an intelligent hue spectrum on specifically the one above, made me go gaga.
Designed by 24AM, the poster design for Mohsin Kassim's ode to romance Thobama gives out a peculiarly oldies vibe (of a time) when you used to hang out with your colleagues on the madhil and whistle at the beauties of your college (which, at the moment, is a type of eve-teasing). It's supposed to be nonchalant and nostalgic and it very well is, with some amazing use of the watercolour effect.
Trivia - 24AM rose to instant popularity when its butterfly logo on the posters of Alphonse Putharen's went viral.
Designed by artist Pavi Sankar, the posters for Jubith Namradath's social satire Aabhaasam are as raunchy and vivid as the film's characters as well as the central theme. There will be no one person who would look at this piece of art and not want to consider consuming the full content. I remember the publicity team had also released a slightly risque- y poster on social media once the film was certified by the CBFC after much controversy. And it was equally awe-inspiring. Just bravo!
One of the best Malayalam movies of 2018, V Ajithkumar's powerful romance story narrated on a political backdrop Eeda really took the rawness and realism of its theme to a higher level with this poster. Not only does it take the "put the ensemble" route - like Dakini, Ranam, and Aabhaasam - but also takes its title font so seriously that it evokes memories of a certain political theory popular in Kannur (and Kerala, in general) where the film is set. It is designed by Oldmonks.
Last on this list is - for the eighth time - an Oldmonks design where they give a subtle nod to the film's primary subject (legendary writer Kamala Surayya) and her ink writings that not only played with her own life but also kicked up a furore in the sensitive literary, political, and religious spheres. What better use of the smudge tool than a film that talks about how a person is oppressed by the society because of their writing. This is for Kamal's hard-hitting biopic Aami.
These are the 13 best posters that helped Malayalam cinema go the extra mile in its promotions in 2018. I wanted to list more posters and write about their designers to give them more exposure but I feel doing that would take the focus off from these pieces of mind-boggling creative art. TN.
