Malayalam cinema, is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, Elippathayam won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and Most Original Imaginative Film of 1982 by the British Film Institute. Rajiv Anchal's Guru (1997), Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu (2011) and Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu (2019) were Malayalam films sent by India as its official entries for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.
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.
Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the South Indian film industry as well as Hindi cinema. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artist. She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Malabar Gopalan 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 2000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, 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.
Prem Kumar Gangai Amaren, better known as Premgi, is an Indian playback singer, composer, songwriter, actor and comedian. The son of composer and director Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and is known for his comical performances in his elder brother Venkat Prabhu's films. His stage name, Premgi, is actually a spelling error, as it is meant to be "Prem G.",. He is also best known for his catchphrases Enna Koduma Sir Idhu ? and Evvalavo pannitom, itha panna mattoma, the former being a modified version of a famous dialogue used by Prabhu in Chandramukhi (2005).
Dharan Kumar is an Indian music composer, who mainly produces film scores and soundtracks in the Tamil film industry. He made his film debut Parijatham, featuring the hit single "Unnai Kandene". He credits director and actor K. Bhagyaraj as his guru.
Kalpana Ranjani, better known mononymously as Kalpana, was an Indian actress who appeared in South Indian films, predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil. Kalpana has acted in over 300 films in various South Indian languages. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Thanichalla Njan (2012) at the 60th National Film Awards. Kalpana started her career as a child artist in the late 1970s. Although she came into the industry with the intention of being a lead actress, she turned out to be popular among the audiences for her comic roles.
Rahul Raj is an Indian music composer. He has composed and produced scores and soundtracks predominantly for Malayalam movies. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Berklee College of Music and holds a postgraduate degree in scoring for films, TV and video games.
Vinayakan T. K. is an Indian actor, playback singer, and composer who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has also appeared in some Tamil language films. He started his career with a cameo appearance in the 1995 film Maanthrikam. Later, he did a couple of films as supporting roles as well as comedian roles.
Gopi Sundar C. S. is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works prominently in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He started his career composing music for television commercials, has nearly 5,000 jingles to his credit. As a keyboard programmer, he has collaborated with many music directors including the composer duo Vishal–Shekhar. He has won several accolades for his soundtrack albums and film scores, including a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award, and two Filmfare Awards South.
Dulquer Salmaan is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam films in addition to Tamil,Telugu and Hindi films. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management from Purdue University and worked as a business manager in Dubai before pursuing a career in acting. Dulquer is a recipient of several awards including, four Filmfare Awards South and a Kerala State Film Award.
Inspector Garud is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by Johny Antony, starring Dileep and Kavya Madhavan as the lead roles. The film was a commercial success at the box office.
Cheriyan Joseph, popularly known as Prem Prakash is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam television serials and a renowned producer in Malayalam movies. He is mainly known for supporting roles and character roles. He has produced 19 Malayalam films. He is known as Kariachan amongst his family, friends and cinema circles.
Ambili is an Indian film singer in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s and 1980s. She has sung more than 3000 songs in 800 films. She has sung in Tamil, Hindi and Bengali. Her popular songs are "Thedi varum kannukalil", "Oonjala, oonjala", "Swarnamalakal", "Maayalle raga mazhaville" and "Guruvayoorappante thiruvamruthethinu".
Zero Babu, also known as Mohammed Babu, was an Indian film singer, actor and music composer who was active in Malayalam cinema during the 1980s. He was a theater artist turned movie actor. His debut film song was for Kudumbini in 1964 at the age of 18. In P. J. Antony’s play, K. J. Babu played the role of a man who is fed up with life owing to the cotton gambling game that prevailed in the past. Open Zero was the name of the game. Ever since he acted the role and performed a song called Open Zero, he was known as Zero Babu. He also composed few songs including Nakshathrangal Chimmum from the 1983 film Marakkilorikkalum, Manavaattippennorungi from 1982 movie Kurukkante Kalyaanam. He was a recipient of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award and also sung in nearly 90 films and various plays. He has sung more than 300 movie songs.
K. G. Rajasekharan (February 14, 1947 - March 21, 2019) was an Indian film director in Malayalam movies. He had directed 20 Malayalam movies. He directed his debut movie Padmatheertham in 1978.
Mankombu Gopalakrishnan is an Indian film lyricist, poet and script writer in Malayalam movies.
Harikumar is an Indian film script writer and director in Malayalam movies. He did script, story and dialogue for more than 20 Malayalam movies. He directed popular movies Sukrutham, Ayanum and Udhyanapalakan, which won many awards, even in international festivals. He was the member of National Award Jury in 2005 and 2008.
Kammatipaadam, alternatively spelled as Kammatti Paadam, is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by Rajeev Ravi and written by P. Balachandran. The film stars Dulquer Salmaan, Vinayakan, Shaun Romy, Manikandan R. Achari, Vinay Forrt, Shine Tom Chacko, and Suraj Venjaramoodu. The songs were composed by K, John P. Varkey and Vinayakan while the background score was composed by K.
