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 and Lakshadweep islands of india. Malayalam cinema includes the commercial film industry, sometimes 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.
Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in South Indian films as well as Hindi cinema. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films She is one of the most sought after actresses in the South Indian film industry. 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.
Paliyath Jayachandran 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.
Thattil Antony Johnson, popularly known as Johnson Master, was an Indian film score composer and music director who has given music to some of the most important motion pictures of Malayalam cinema, including those for Koodevide, Namukku Paarkkan Munthiri Thoppukal, Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, Vadakkunokkiyantram, Perumthachan, Njan Gandharvan, Ponthan Mada, and Bhoothakkannadi. Regarded as one of the finest composers in the industry, he was noted for his lyrical and expressive melodies together with simple but rich tonal compositions of thematic music. Johnson is a recipient of National Film Awards twice and Kerala State Film Awards five times. He has composed music for more than 300 Malayalam films, the most by any composer except for Devarajan. He was the first music director from Malayalam cinema to be honoured with the National film Awards. He died of a heart attack in Chennai on 18 August 2011.
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. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in Indian Cinema, he has sung more than 2500 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.
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.
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.
Shanthi Krishna is an Indian actress known for her leading roles in Malayalam and Tamil films. As a star in the 1980s and 1990s, she won many allocades including the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance as Sharadammini in Chakoram (1994), and the Kerala State Television Award for Best Actress three times in a row also Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Malayalam for her performance in Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela, her comeback film.
Gopi Sundar C.S. is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries.
Kunnel Joseph Joseph, better known by his stage name, Jose Prakash was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Malayalam cinema. He was a singer turned actor who had appeared in more than 300 films mostly in antagonist roles. He was awarded with the J. C. Daniel Award in 2011, a day before he died aged 86. In a career spanning for around 40 years, he is known for portraying some of the iconic villain characters in the Malayalam film industry. Later, he switched to character roles in the mid 90s.
IrshadAli is an Indian actor in Malayalam films. He hails from Kechery, Thrissur. He has acted in a number of Malayalam television serials and telefilms besides acting in films.
Dulquer Salmaan is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam, 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, five Filmfare Awards South and a Kerala State Film Award.
Kizhakke Potta Udayabhanu was an Indian playback singer and music director, mainly in Malayalam films. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.
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. Velayudhan Nair, better known by his stage name Crossbelt Mani, was an Indian film director and cinematographer, who worked in the Malayalam cinema. He directed more than 40 Malayalam movies and worked as a cinematographer for ten movies. He became popular with his second movie Cross Belt in 1970 and adopted Crossbelt to his name. Veteran director Joshiy worked as an assistant director under him.
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.
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.
Sanah Moidutty is an Indian singer songwriter. She has been trained in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music as well as western vocals, and performs Indian classical and pop music.
