In films like Ore Kadal (2007) and the phenomenal Bhoothakalam (2022), the Theyyam is not a song-and-dance break; it is a spiritual motif. The god’s arrival signals justice, truth, or terrifying reckoning. In Paleri Manikyam , the mystery of a murdered woman is unraveled through the narrative structure of a vadakkan pattu (northern ballad). In Vanaprastham (1999), the great Mohanlal played a Kathakali artist whose art becomes his weapon and his prison.