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.
K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. Since the early 1960s, he directed 70 films. He spent most of his career directing and producing movies with social and devotional themes. Most of his movies are melodramas. His son K. S. G. Venkatesh is an actor who has acted in television serials and in films like Sathuranga Vettai.
Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha, was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1979 Tamil film Pasi. She also received three Kerala State Film Awards: for Best Actress (1978), Best Supporting Actress (1977) and Best Child Artist (1971); and two Filmfare Awards South for Best Actress in Kannada (1978) and Tamil (1979) films. Considered one of the finest talents to have emerged in the Indian film world, her promising career was unexpectedly cut short as she committed suicide in 1980, due to unknown reasons. Her popularity resulted in considerable public scrutiny of the events that led to her death and also various conspiracy theories. The 1983 Malayalam film Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback is supposedly based on her life and death.
Gurusala Krishnadas Venkatesh was an Indian film score composer who primarily worked in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and until the late-1980s. He also composed music for Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. He produced numerous master pieces of Kannada film music and also brought in Western background score into Kannada films and scored music for all Bond movies of Rajkumar in the 1960s to 1970s.
K. Jamuna Rani is an Indian playback singer who has sung over 6,000 songs in Telugu, Sinhalese, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages.
Porayath Leela was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist, and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia, Gujarati, Marati. and also Sinhale. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers v.Dakshinamoorthy, MS Baburaj, G Devarajan, ghantasala, MS Viswanathan, K. Raghavan, Br Lakshmanan, LPR Varma, BA chithambara athletes, AT ummer, MK Arjun, Johnson, ouseppachan, ilaiyaraja, and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and Ghantalasa over the years. Leela is known for her sweet and melodious voice that she named Ganamani. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006. She made her debut as a playback singer in the 1948 Tamil film Kangkanam.
Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni, more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhalese, and Hindi languages.
School Master is a 1958 Indian Kannada-language film produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu. The film stars Panthulu himself in the lead role along with Dikki Madhava Rao, M. V. Rajamma, Udaykumar, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi in important roles. This was the first Kannada film to complete a silver jubilee. The film had its children's dance drama in Gevacolor, taken by cinematographer W. R. Subba Rao. It was later remade in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi in spite of it being dubbed in Tamil and Telugu as Engal Kudumbam Perisu and Badi Pantulu respectively.
Kavyamela is a 1965 Indian Malayalam-language film written by S. L. Puram Sadanandan and directed by M. Krishnan Nair, starring Prem Nazir and Sheela in the lead roles. The film is best known for the performance by Prem Nazir and songs by Dakshinamoorthy – Vayalar team.
Visappinte Vili is a 1952 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Mohan Rao and produced by Kunchacko and K. V. Koshi under the banner of K&K Combines. It stars Prem Nazir, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Kumari Thankam, Pankajavalli, Nanukuttan, Mathappan, S. P. Pillai and Baby Girija.
Amma (transl. Mother) is a 1952 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Jairus Paul Victor, written by Nagavally R. S. Kurup and produced by T. E. Vasudevan. The film is based on L. V. Prasad's Telugu movie Shavukar.
Bhaaga Pirivinai is a 1959 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh, starring Sivaji Ganesan, M. R. Radha and B. Saroja Devi. The film was released on 31 October 1959. It was remade in Hindi as Khandan (1965), in Telugu as Kalasi Vunte Kaladu Sukham (1961), in Kannada as Muriyada Mane (1964), and in Malayalam as Nirakudam (1977).
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's Panam to 1965's Aayirathil Oruvan. After their split, Ramamoorthy worked on 16 films between 1966 and 1986. He and Viswanathan reunited in 1995 for Engirundho Vandhan.
Gunasagari is a 1953 Indian Kannada-language film directed by H. L. N. Simha and produced by AVM Productions. It stars Gubbi Veeranna, Honnappa Bhagavathar and Pandari Bai. The music was composed by R. Sudarshanam. The film was released in Tamil as Sathya Sodhanai. Malayalam actor Prem Nazir had a small role in this film which was his only Kannada film appearance. Rajasulochana made her debut with this film.
Kamukara Purushothaman was an Indian singer. He was a noted playback singer in Malayalam cinema during its early years. He has recorded over 170 songs in 68 movies in various South Indian languages.
Achan (transl. Father) is a 1952 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by M. R. S. Mani and produced by M. Kunchacko. The film stars Prem Nazir and B. S. Saroja in lead roles. The film had musical score by P. S. Divakar. This was the only film in which veteran actor Sesbastian Kunjukunju Bhagavatahar did a comic role. It is one of the major box office hits of early Malayalam cinema. It will be remembered as the debut of Boban Kunchacko, the maiden venture of XL Productions, and first film of Thiruvananthapuram V. Lakshmi. The film was remade in Tamil as Thanthai, again with Prem Nazir. Kambadasan wrote the dialogues and lyrics. The film was released in April 1953.
Genova is a 1953 Indian war romance film, directed by F. Nagoor and produced by E. P. Eppan. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, B. S. Saroja and P. S. Veerappa. It was filmed simultaneously in Malayalam and Tamil, with the Tamil version releasing two months after the Malayalam version.
K. Rani was an Indian playback singer who has sung songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Hindi, Bengali and Uzbek. Rani was the first female singer from India to sing in Sinhalese and Uzbek, and sang the national anthem of Sri Lanka.
M. S. Rajeswari was an Indian playback singer who has recorded over 500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films.
Kulavilakku is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. S. Gopalakrishnan. A remake of the Malayalam film Adhyapika (1968), it stars B. Saroja Devi and Gemini Ganesan. The film was released on 14 June 1969.
