Maria rose to fame alongside other iconic figures of the South Indian "masala" film era, such as and Reshma . Known for her striking beauty and bold performances, she appeared in numerous Malayalam and Telugu films, including: Level Cross (Malayalam) Agni Pushpam (Malayalam) Dear Sneha (Telugu) Kadambari (2001, Malayalam)
The recent global acclaim of Malayalam cinema—through films like Jallikattu (2019), Minnal Murali (2021), and 2018: Everyone is a Hero (2023)—is not a departure from its cultural roots but a culmination of them. These films succeed because they are unapologetically, intimately Keralite. A superhero movie like Minnal Murali works precisely because its hero’s existential crisis is tied to the petty gossip of a small Keralite village, its caste dynamics, and the loneliness of the monsoon.