Mohanlal has spent nearly four decades as a fixture in Kerala's top three highest-grossing films. That streak is over.

According to Koimoi, the actor's 2025 release Thudarum has slipped to fourth place on the state's all-time box office chart, edged out after Bethlehem Kudumba Unit overtook Vaazha 2 to claim the industry hit tag in Kerala. The top three now reads Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, Kalyani Priyadarshan's Lokah Chapter 1 - Chandra, and Vaazha 2. No Mohanlal film features among them, something Koimoi says hasn't happened since 1987.

It's a strange kind of milestone. Mohanlal isn't going anywhere as a box office draw, and the report is careful to note he still holds the most 100-crore films in Malayalam and has four entries in Kerala's top ten, more than any other male lead in the industry. This isn't about his star power fading. It's about a genuinely stacked couple of years for Mollywood, where a rom-com and a supernatural drama have both outrun expectations and, in the process, outrun him.

The bigger number

Bethlehem Kudumba Unit isn't just leading in Kerala. Per Koimoi, the Nivin Pauly film has crossed 300 crore worldwide, which puts it ahead of Lokah Chapter 1 - Chandra's reported 305.17 crore lifetime total to become the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, period. For a rom-com, that's not a small thing. Big-budget action and fantasy titles usually own that record. A relationship comedy topping the all-time list says something about where Malayalam audiences are putting their money in 2026.

The two numbers, worldwide and Kerala-specific, tell slightly different stories depending on how you read them, and Koimoi's report doesn't fully reconcile whether Bethlehem Kudumba Unit's global total is inclusive of or separate from the state figures driving the top-three shakeup. Worth watching how the final tallies settle once distributors close the books.

What happens next is the more interesting question for Mohanlal watchers. Thudarum's run in Kerala isn't finished, and a strong festive-season push could, in theory, put it back in contention. But with Bethlehem Kudumba Unit still adding to its total and Lokah's numbers effectively locked in as a 2025 release, the actor would need a genuinely big new theatrical hit to reclaim a spot he's held for the better part of forty years. There's no confirmed Mohanlal release date on the immediate horizon that trade reports have tied to that comeback. For now, the chart belongs to Nivin Pauly and Kalyani Priyadarshan.