Prithviraj had four releases in 2016, debuting with Paavada, a family drama in which he played a drunkard. It met with positive response and was a commercial success, grossing ₹16.34 crore from Kerala box office and ran for 100 days in theatres. His following releases Darvinte Parinamam and James & Alice met with mixed reviews, the former told the story of an ordinary man dealing with a local goon and the latter was a family drama that discussed the matter of life and death. His last release, Oozham, an action thriller directed by Jeethu Joseph was a commercial success, earning ₹15.25 crore in 25 days. He played a demolition expert. In 2017, he starred in the horror film Ezra, which became one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of the year, grossing ₹50 crore worldwide, with ₹33 crore from Kerala box office.