King), stylized as mālik with diacritics, is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language political thriller film directed, written and edited by Mahesh Narayanan.

The film stars Fahadh Faasil with Nimisha Sajayan, Vinay Forrt,[3] Jalaja, Joju George, Dileesh Pothan and Indrans in supporting roles.

Principal photography began on 3 September 2019 and completed on 18 January 2020, with major portions filmed across Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Lakshadweep.

Ahammadali Sulaiman is the godfather of Ramadapally, a coastal town in Thiruvananthapuram where Muslims and Christians live together.

He prepares to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage in his middle years on the insistence of his Christian wife Roselyn.

Ali and his friend Aboobacker, a political leader, are on the verge of fallout over land acquisition from the locals for a harbour project.

Ali, David, Peter and Hameed dropped out of school and engaged in petty crimes, working for Chandran, a local goon.

Anwar told David that the Muslims reaped the benefits and the consequences were suffered by the coastal Christian fishermen.

Anwar, the police, and MLA P. A. Aboobacker, who is playing both sides for the land acquisition, manipulated David into starting a riot at the mosque premises during Uroos celebrations.

Aboo's goons murder a fellow and pin it on David, leading to a fight between Christians and Muslims.

In a mid-credits scene, Anwar reveals to the media that the riots at Ramadapally were instigated by the police with the help of the government.

[8] Sanu John Varghese was hired as cinematographer and Sushin Shyam as the composer, who revealed the film's title as Malik.

Since the plot is based on land acquisition cases in the coastal regions of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Mahesh had stated that "The film revolves around a place where there was a resistance against this constant threat of displacement of a minority community, and a person who was responsible for making his people rise up", further describing his character as "someone who emerged as a leader among the community".

[18] Production designer Santhosh Raman recreated an entire coastal town in Kalamassery replicating 1980s, where a major part of the film was shot, and another set was created in Thiruvananthapuram.

[20] The team took two months for visual effects and 95 percent of post-production works were completed before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India.

[22] The music is composed, produced and arranged by Sushin Shyam with lyrics penned by Anwar Ali and Sameer Binsi.

The film was initially scheduled for theatrical release in April 2020,[2][4] but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

[24][25] In December 2020, a new release date of 13 May 2021 (Eid-al-Fitr weekend) was announced,[26][27] with Narayanan stating that he hopes audience may start coming to theatres by April and May.

[29] Due to the uncertainty and with the rise of COVID-19 cases across Kerala,[30] producer Anto Joseph decided to sell Malik to streaming service Amazon Prime Video for ₹22 crore (US$2.5 million).

[40] Firstpost rated 4 out of 5 and said that it is "a grand, gripping saga on tricky communal ground ... this is a challenging film, demanding as much from the viewer as it offers.

[41] The Hindu stated that the film is a "multi-layered mass entertainer, with fantastic character arcs and performances ...

The script subtly looks at how extremists as well as power-hungry elements in every religion try to create and widen fissures with other communities", and also appreciated the cinematography and score.

[42] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "Malik follows the Godfather template but the various touches given to characters and events percolate all the way down to make the film a very local one...Malik is one of those movies that would continue to reveal as you rewatch it because it’s densely packed with information.

[44] The News Minute rated 4 out of 5 and wrote: "Malik appears to be loosely based on the Beemapally riots of 2009 ...

[46] A Judicial Commission was setup to probe the shooting it was found that the mob had tried to attack a Christian Church which was housing about 50 people.