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.
Kerala music has a complex history distinct from Malayalam poetry, with which it is often associated. Though it is often driven by poetry, Kerala also has its roots in Carnatic music. Songs have always been a significant part of early Malayalam literature dating back to the 9th century CE. The significance of music in Kerala's culture can be deduced from the musical poetry that developed in the Malayalam language long before prose. As music evolved in the region, various branches emerged from it
Madhoo Shah, also known formerly as Madhubala, is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. She was a part of Movies like Phool Aur Kaante (1991), Roja (1992), Allari Priyudu (1992), Yoddha (1992), and Gentleman (1993).
Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. In 2023, he was awarded a honorary doctorate by Birmingham City University.
Ajantha is an Indian film produced and directed by Rajppa Ravishankar. The film was simultaneously shot in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu languages with different starcast.
Achanuragantha Veedu is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Lal Jose and written by Babu Janardhanan. It stars Salim Kumar, Muktha, Samvrutha Sunil, and Indrajith Sukumaran. The film was released on 28 January 2006. For his performance, Salim Kumar won the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor.
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.
Star Singer is an Indian music reality television competition, broadcast on Asianet and the show, which selected contestants in the age group of 15–35 years compete based on their skill in singing and entertainment. From season 1 to 7, text messages were sent by the shows' audience to vote for the best-performing participant and a small weightage of this score was considered for a candidate to be shortlisted to next round. In Season 8, voting was conducted on Disney+ Hotstar, Star Network's official OTT platform. From Season 9, judges' decisions were made final and voting was cancelled, but marks can be entered on Disney+ Hotstar and these have small consideration. The show also features a panel of judges who are prominent personalities in the Malayalam music industry who offer scores and evaluations of performance to the contestants in every stage of the competition. In 2009, Star Singer Junior was launched.
Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films. His work was predominantly in Malayalam cinema.
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.
Janani is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil and Malayalam movies. She made noticed for her role in the Tamil feature film Avan Ivan (2011). Her notable films including Thegidi (2014) and 7th Day (2014). She is the 3rd runner up of the reality show Bigg Boss Tamil 2 which aired in 2018.
Kizhakkunarum Pakshi is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language musical tragedy drama film written and directed by Venu Nagavalli and produced by P. K. R. Pillai. It stars Mohanlal, Shankar, Murali, Rekha, Jagathy Sreekumar, Ashokan and Innocent. The music and background score of the film was composed by Raveendran
Sooryan is a 2007 Malayalam-language musical action drama film directed by V. M. Vinu, starring Jayaram and Vimala Raman in the lead.
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.
Spirit is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language satirical black comedy film written and directed by Ranjith. The film primarily focuses on the increasing habits of alcoholism in Kerala. It was produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the company Aashirvad Cinemas. The film stars Mohanlal in the lead role, while Kaniha, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Nandhu, Kalpana, Madhu, Lena and Thilakan plays supporting roles. The film features music composed by Shahabaz Aman.
Shalil Kallur is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter working in Malayalam films. His debut directorial venture Dolls was released in 2013 and his second film Kattumakkan, a multi starrer with veterans like Mukesh, Vijay Menon and Nassar in lead roles, was released on 12 February 2016.
Salmon 3D is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language 3D film directed by Shalil Kallur. The film stars playback singer Vijay Yesudas along with Jonita Doda, Rajiv Pillai, and Tanvi Kishore in important characters. The film began principal photography on 23 November 2019, after the first look poster launch, and was shot mainly in Kerala, Dubai and Malaysia.
