Malayalam cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language, which is widely spoken in the state of Kerala. Malayalam cinema includes the commercial film industry, popularly known as Mollywood, as well as independent cinema made in Malayalam.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as Gaanagandharvan. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Paliyath Jayachandrakuttan is an Indian playback singer and actor from Kerala. He has worked with many composers including G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, V. Dakshinamoorthy, K. Raghavan, M. K. Arjunan, M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Koti, Shyam, A. R. Rahman, M. M. Keeravani, Vidyasagar and M Jayachandran. He has sung more than 16000 songs in total in different languages. He also acted in few films.
Vineeth Sreenivasan is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the elder son of actor and screenwriter Sreenivasan.
Malabar Gopalan Nair Sreekumar, better known as M. G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 25000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Sanskrit. He owns a music company named KMG Musics and the Saregama School of Music in Thiruvananthapuram. Sreekumar has won several awards, including two National Film Awards, three Kerala State Film Awards and 5 Filmfare Awards South. He was also honoured with the Harivarasanam Award by the Government of Kerala in 2016. His career as a singer spans over 44 years.
Madhavan Raveendran, , fondly known as Raveendran Master, was a popular South Indian music composer and playback singer from Kerala. He composed songs for more than 150 films primarily for the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He also composed a few albums, including Vasantha Geethangal, Ponnonatharangini and Rithugeethangal. Raveendran successfully composed melodies based on Hindustani Ragas also.
Mukesh Madhavan, known mononymously as Mukesh, is an Indian actor, film producer, television presenter, and politician who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil-language films. In a film career spanning four decades, he has acted in over 275 Malayalam films.
Jayasurya is an Indian actor, distributor, sponsor, model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist who works in Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Award, three Kerala State Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South for acting and Best Actor at the Cincinnati Film Festival held in Cincinnati, US. Jayasurya has also appeared in a few Tamil films.
Bharatham is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language musical drama film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Mohanlal, Urvashi, Nedumudi Venu, Lakshmi, and Murali. The film was produced by Mohanlal through his production house Pranavam Arts. The film features original songs composed by Raveendran and a background score by Johnson. Bharatham is interpreted as a modern-day adaptation of the Ramayana from Bharatha's perspective. How, in the absence of his elder brother, Gopinathan takes the responsibility of the family and hides his griefs is the core of the story.
Vijay Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.
Madhusoodanan Jayachandran Nair is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Ennu Ninte Moideen. He has composed music for 126 films.
Nandanam is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language romantic film written, co-produced and directed by Ranjith. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Revathi, Navya Nair, Aravind Akash, Siddique and Saikumar. Playback singer K. J. Yesudas and Sudheesh make guest appearances. The film won four Kerala State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards South awards.
Kalpadukal is a 1962 Malayalam-language film, directed by K. S. Antony, starring Prem Nazir in the lead role. The film received a certificate of merit at the National Film Awards. Renowned playback singer K. J. Yesudas sang his first song for this film.
Rex Vijayan is an Indian composer, guitarist, singer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Kerala. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist for the alternative Malayali rock band Avial. He started out his career as a composer in the Malayalam film industry through Kerala Cafe by giving the score to Anwar Rasheed's segment 'Bridge'.
Tharangini Records is the music company founded by noted Indian Playback singer K. J. Yesudas in 1980 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It was the first recording and distributing music label in Kerala from where Malayalam film songs on audio cassettes came out. Other than Malayalam, Tharangni also released songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, English, Malay, Arabic, Russian and Latin. Tharangni release albums under various labels, Tharangni, Tharangni or Ayaan, Bharath Sangeeth, 9th Angel Records, Diva Records, V Records & Entertainment, Amplify More, all licensed or incorporated under Dr. K. J. Yesudass Audio and Visuals Corporation Limited and Yesudass Media Private Limited.
Sooraj Santhosh is an Indian singer, songwriter, and composer. He straddles the worlds of independent music and playback singing, moving smoothly between the two. Santhosh is the recipient of a Kerala State Film Award (2016), 2 Mirchi Music Awards, and a Kerala State Film Critics Award (2021). He has sung around 300 songs in 8 languages.
Rajisha Vijayan is an Indian actress and former television presenter who primarily appears in Malayalam films, in addition to a few Tamil films in supporting roles to lead female roles.
Mayaanadhi is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language romantic thriller film directed and co-produced by Aashiq Abu, and written by Syam Pushkaran and Dileesh Nair. The film stars Tovino Thomas as a criminal on the run and Aishwarya Lekshmi as an aspiring actress. Their troubled love and struggle for survival form the basic plot of the film. It released on 22 December 2017 to widespread critical acclaim from critics. The film was praised for the way it tackled with sexuality and was included in The Hindu 's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade.
Kannamangalam Sreekumar Harisankar is an Indian playback singer popular mainly in South Indian cinema. He is quite familiar to the Malayali audience through hits like Jeevamshamayi from the movie Theevandi, Pavizha mazhaye from the movie Athiran, Kamini from Anugraheethan Antony, Nee Himamazha, Vaanam chaayum, Aalolam and several others. Harisankar is also a popular figure in Indian independent music, with his band Pragathi. The five-member band, comprising Harisankar, Abishek Amanath, Abhijith Sudhi, Precious Peter and Abin Sagar was formed in 2018. He lended his voice for the Malayalam version of Naatu Naatu, the Oscar and Golden Globe winning song from the movie RRR.
