Has Prithviraj hit a rough patch?

Get your lowdown on what's happening in the Malayalam film industry.

No one, and that includes Prithviraj himself, knows why he is featuring prominently in the hate-list of so many people. He was seen as the future of Malayalam cinema until some months back.

A slew of flops, his hush-hush marriage and some controversial interviews in which he displayed a devil-may-care attitude could have turned the tide against him. The poor show of some of his films and the hate comments on the Internet are proof to his dwindling fortunes.

The latest on this front is the news that he is no longer part of two high profile projects that were announced with him in the lead.

One is Vysakh's Mallu Singh, scripted by Sethu (of the erstwhile Sachi-Sethu duo), for which Prithviraj had even done a photo session.

The other one is Rosshan Andrrews' Mumbai Police, written by Sanjay and Bobby, where Mammootty will now replace Prithviraj!

Director Anwar Rasheed, who had also announced a project with Prithviraj, is going ahead with his next film with Mammootty's son Dulqar Salman in the lead.

Director Madhav Ramadasan's Melvilasom is regarded as one of the finest films of the year. The film was recently shown at the Busan International Festival and will also be shown in the Indian Panorama section in the forthcoming International Film Festival of India in Goa.

The film has surprisingly not been selected for the International Film Festival of Kerala (IIFK) to be held in Thiruvananthapuram in December.

Though the director is silent about the non-inclusion of his film in IFFK, there are many who feel that the selection committee has been totally unjust in not including Melvilasom.

The Malayalam feature films in this year's festival include Aadimadhyantham (Director: Sherrey), Adaminte Makan Abu (Director: Salim Ahmed), Akam (Director: Shalini Usha Nair), Karmayogi (Director: V K Prakash), Khaddama (Director: Kamal), Pakarnnattam (Director: Jayaraj), Pranchiyettan And The Saint (Director: Ranjith), Sankaranum Mohananum  (Director: T V Chandran) and Traffic  (Director: Rajesh Pillai).