‘Malayalam cinema is on a different level altogether’
Dinesh Krthik praised actor-director Basil Joseph for his excellent performance in Jothish Shankar’s black comedy thriller Ponman and stated that Dinjith Ayyathan’s mystery thriller Eko “blown his mind”. Ponman streams on JioHotstar and Eko streams on Netflix.
Dinesh Karthik about Ponman and Eko
Commentator and former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik is known to express his appreciation for good movies on social media. Praising the two Malayalam movies he watched recently (Ponman and Eko), both of which were released in 2025, Karthik stated that Malayalam cinema is at a completely different level.
Shifting to the The wicketkeeper-batsman wrote, “Two high quality movies I watched last week – PONMAN and EKO. Unreal acting by @basiljoseph25 in Ponman. You literally live the movie through him and the supporting cast is solid as always.”
He further added, “EKO blew my mind in terms of cinematography, locations and a unique story that Dinjith has put together so beautifully. Malayalam cinema is on a completely different level. More power to everyone, make such films and continue to make the film watching world smile.”
Basil Joseph, who has directed three films so far, including Malayalam superhero film Minnal Murali directed by Tovino Thomas, reshared Dinesh Karthik’s post on timeline X and replied: “Thank you so much @DineshKarthik, I am stunned by your response.” Joseph was also in talks for the big screen adaptation of the superhero Shaktimaan, with Ranveer Singh playing the lead role, but Mukesh Khanna refused to give the rights to the television series.
Two high-quality movies I watched last week
PONMAN and ECO
unreal acting @basiljoseph25 With Ponman, you literally live the movie through him, and as always, the supporting cast is solid.
ECO blew my mind in terms of cinematography, locations and so on…
— DK (@DineshKarthik) January 2, 2026
Meanwhile, coming back to Ponman and Eko, the Jothish Shankar directorial also stars Sajin Gopu, Lijomol Jose, Anand Manmadhan and Deepak Parambol and is streaming on JioHotstar. Made at around Rs 3 crore, it was a commercial success and earned around Rs 20 crore. On the other hand, Dinjith Ayyathan movie starring Sandeep Pradeep, Vineeth, Narain, Binu Pappu and Biana Momin in lead roles grossed more than Rs 50 crore at the box office against its reported budget of Rs 5 crore.
Ponman streams on JioHotstar and Eko streams on Netflix.
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