Raghava Kurup Narendra Prasad was an Indian actor, playwright, director, teacher and literary critic. He was born at Mavelikkara in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Appreciated for his body language and performance by the audience and critics, he is known for portraying character roles and villain characters in Malayalam films.
Rajan P. Dev was an Indian film and stage actor. He was born in Cherthala in the Alappuzha district of the former state Thiru-Kochi. He had acted in over 500 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. He was noted for his villain roles laced with a touch of humour. He came into the limelight for his characterisation of Kochuvava in the play Kattukuthira. Rajan P. Dev died in Kochi Wednesday 29 July 2009 due to a liver disease.
Mohan Sithara is an Indian music composer. He received the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Music Director (2009) for the songs in Priyanandan's Soofi Paranja Kadha. Since 1986 he has been an active musician in the Malayalam film industry. His work mixes Western, Classical and folk styles. He has worked with lyricists and poets like O. N. V Kurup, Yusufali Kechery, Sreekumaran Thampi, Rajeev Alunkal, Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, S. Ramesan Nair, Vinayan, Bharanikkavu Sivakumar, Anil Panachooran, Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma, Gireesh Puthenchery, and Bichu Thirumala. Many prominent singers have sung his songs, including K. J. Yesudas, P. Jayachandran, M.G.Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra, Shreya Ghoshal, Sujatha Mohan, Madhu Balakrishnan, G. Venugopal, Vidhu Prathap, Afsal, Manjari, Jyotsna Radhakrishnan, and Biju Narayanan.
Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair was an Indian poet, playwright, script writer, lyricist, orator, film director and actor, though he is best known as an actor in Malayalam cinema. He is the recipient of Padma Shri from the Government of India, which is one of the highest civilian honours in India. In a career that spanned about 47 years, he acted in over 700 films. He is considered to be the "first superstar of Malayalam cinema". In 1993, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Kachinamthoduka Puthiyapurayil Ummer known as K. P. Ummer was an Indian actor from Thekkepuram quarter of Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He was active in the Malayalam cinema from the early sixties until the late nineties.
K. N. Jagannatha Varma was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam film and television industry. He was also a Kathakali artist. His son Manu Varma is also an artist and his son-in-law Viji Thampi is a film director. He acted in a number of Malayalam movies performing roles of a senior police officer, judge or a priest. Some of his noted roles were in movies New Delhi (1987), Thanthram (1988), Lelam (1997) and Pathram (1999), all directed by Joshiy. Varma joined the Kerala Police Force in 1963, before getting active in movies. He retired from the Kerala Police as the Superintendent of Police.
JanardhananPillai, also known as JanardhananNair, is an Indian actor, producer and a former Indian Air Force personnel who predominantly acts in Malayalam films. He acted in his first feature film Adyathe Kadha, directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan in 1971, he acted in more than 700 films. He started his career when Malayalam films were made in black and white. He is known for his style of handling humour and his iconic voice. He started his career playing brusque villains and sub hero roles in the 1970s and early 1980s, acting along with Prem Nazir and Jayan, but later established himself as a highly sought-after comedian.
Sufi Paranja Katha is the debut novel of Malayalam novelist K. P. Ramanunni. It was originally serialised in Kalakaumudi in 1989 and published as a book in 1993. The novel has been translated into eight languages, including English and French. Priyanandanan adapted the novel into a film of the same name in 2010. K. P. Ramanunni himself wrote the dialogue and script of the film.
Viji Thampi is an Indian film director, actor and social activist who works in Malayalam films. Thampi is a member of Thiruvananthapuram regional board of the Central Board of Film Certification and the State Advisor of Kerala Kshetra Samrakshana Samithi. In 2021, Thampi was appointed as the Kerala State President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad. He was also a Jury member of National film awards declaration committee in 2022.
Sreenath was an Indian film and television actor. He has acted in many Malayalam films, including Shalini Ente Koottukari, Ithu Njangalude Katha, Sarvakalashala, Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, and Kireedam.
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.
Papilio Buddha is a 2013 Indian film written and directed by Jayan K. Cherian. The film focuses on the atrocities committed against Dalits, women and the environment. It features S. P. Sreekumar, David Briggs and Saritha Sunil while Padmapriya, Prakash Bare and Thampy Antony play supporting roles. Kerala-based environmentalist Kallen Pokkudan appears in another important role in the film which also cast 150 Adivasis. The film was completely shot from Wayanad in Kerala and the cinematography was done by M J Radhakrishnan. The story deals with discrimination against landless Dalits and the politics of suppression of their struggle against the upper castes and other powerful elements locally.
Vettiyattil Krishnan Sreeraman is an Indian actor, writer, TV anchor and social worker.
Prakash Bare is an Indian theater and film actor focusing on Malayalam, English and other south Indian language productions. Starting with the 2010 Malayalam film Sufi Paranja Katha, Prakash has acted in more than 30 films directed by some of the most eminent filmmakers. He is now a live presence in south Indian art house movies and theater scene. Prakash is also a technologist and entrepreneur focusing on VLSI, Software, media production etc. As a social activist, Prakash is involved in the Endosulfan struggle of Kasaragod and is the president of CERV Collectives which secured interim compensation of 5Lakhs for 6000 plus affected patients through a legal campaign
Kallen Pokkudan, also known as Kandal Pokkudan, was an Indian environmental activist and writer from Kerala. He was known for his efforts for the protection and proliferation of the mangrove forests in Kerala, since 1989.
Parudeesa (Paradise) is a 2012 Malayalam–language Indian feature film written by Vinu Abraham and directed by national award-winning filmmaker R. Sarath. The film stars Sreenivasan, Thampy Antony and Swetha Menon in the lead roles. Like in his previous films, Sarath interweaves a complex theme in Parudeesa—that of conflict of belief, the perpetual disagreement between orthodox and unorthodox paths of religion. The film, set against the backdrop of a remote hillside hamlet, unravels the story of a priest and a verger. While the priest is still lost in the labyrinth of orthodoxy, verger has a very liberated outlook about religion, or rather life in general. The film captures the quintessential conflict flickered by the situation. Sreenivasan plays the Bishop while Thampy Antony appears as the Priest and Swetha Menon plays the role of a cook at the nearby convent. Noted comedian and actor Jagathy Sreekumar plays another full-length character, Parudeesa being the last film he completed before the accident. The film released on 26 October 2012 and met with a mixed reaction. Reviews among major critics and parallel movie buffs have been positive but most online critics of mainstream cinema have given the film negative reviews.
Valsala Menon is an Indian film and television actress, who predominantly works in Malayalam films. She has acted in over 500+ films. Until recently, she was active in both, Malayalam films and television serials.
Sufi Paranja Katha is a Malayalam-language film directed by Priyanandanan based on K. P. Ramanunni's novel with the same title. Ramanunni himself wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogues for the film. Thampi Antony, Prakash Bare, and Sharbani Mukherjee did the main roles in this film. The film has been distributed by Central Pictures. It is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the Malayalam New Wave.
Hesham Abdul Wahab is an Indian music director, Music Producer, singer and audio engineer. Best known for his compositions for the soundtrack of the 2022 Malayalam film Hridayam and the music album Qadham Badha produced by British singer-songwriter Sami Yusuf. Wahab is the recipient of 2021 Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for the soundtrack of the film Hridayam.
Vinu Abraham, is an Indian short story writer, novelist, script writer and media person writing in Malayalam language hailing from Nedungadappally, near Thiruvalla in Pathanamtitta district of the south Indian state of Kerala. For the past 30 years he is based in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. His short stories and articles appear regularly in Malayalam periodicals in Kerala. He has published 23 books so far and penned screenplays for 7 Films.
