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, India. In 1982, Elippathayam won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and Most Original Imaginative Film of 1982 by the British Film Institute. The film Marana Simhasanam has won the prestigious Caméra d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.
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.
Kanakku Chembakaraman Kesava Pillai (1868–1914) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a poet of Malayalam literature. He was the Poet Laureate of Travancore and was known for Kesaveeyam, a mahakavya in Malayalam, two attakathas and several bhajans and kirtans. He also translated the Sanskrit text, Narayaniyam, into Malayalam under the title, Bhashanarayaniyam.
Kaviyoor C. K. Revamma was a popular Carnatic vocalist. Revamma, who started learning Carnatic music at the age of eight, had her initiation into the career of a musician at Aruvipuram at the age of 16.
K. Raghavan, also fondly called Raghavan Master, was a Malayalam music composer and Carnatic Vocalist. Along with G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. He is regarded as the pioneer in contributing Malayalam film songs with its own tunes and styles. Till then, Malayalam film songs were in the tunes of popular Hindi and Tamil film songs and old classical kritis. Raghavan gave a new direction and identity to Malayalam film music. He composed around 400 songs in Malayalam cinema and was active in the Malayalam film industry for nearly four decades. In 1997, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
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.
Christmas Rathri is a 1961 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed and produced by P. Subramaniam and was filmed at Merryland Studio. The film stars T. K. Balachandran, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Miss Kumari, M. G. Soman and Adoor Pankajam. The film had musical score by Br. Lakshmanan. The plot revolves around Advocate George (Thikkurissi) and Annie. Despite its title, the film has very little to do with Christmas, except that the climax of the film occurs on Christmas Eve. The film was made in Tamil also and released on 22 September 1961 as Yar Manamagan?.
Sreeraama Pattaabhishekam is a 1962 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by G. K. Ramu and produced by P. Subramaniam. The film stars Prem Nazir, Vasanthi, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair and Prem Nawas. The film had musical score by Br. Lakshmanan. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Prabhu Jai Shri Ram.
Snapaka Yohannan is a 1963 Indian Malayalam-language film about John the Baptist, directed and produced by P. Subramaniam. The film stars Jose Prakash, Prem Nazir, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Miss Kumari, S. P. Pillai, K. V. Shanthi, L. Vijayalakshmi and Adoor Pankajam. The film had musical score by Br. Lakshmanan.
Priyathama is a 1966 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed and produced by P. Subramaniam. The film stars Prem Nazir, Sheela, Shanthi and Adoor Bhasi. The film had musical score by Br Lakshmanan.
Nimirndhu Nil is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani featuring Jayam Ravi in dual role and Amala Paul. It was produced by KS Sreenivasan's Vaasan Visual Ventures. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. Jayam Ravi played a revolutionist for a social cause. The film, which was simultaneously made in Telugu as Janda Pai Kapiraju with Nani in place of Jayam Ravi, released on 8 March 2014 and received mostly positive reviews.
Ninaithathu Yaaro is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Vikraman and produced by Ramesh P Pillai. The project stars debutants Rejith Menon and Nimisha Suresh playing the lead pair with Karthik Yogi, Azhar, Ashvatt, Riythvika & Subiksha. The film began production in 2013 and released on 30 January 2014.
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.
Thirunainar Kurichi Madhavan Nair (1916-1965) was an Indian poet, novelist and lyricist. He was also an employee of Travancore Radio Station in Trivandrum, which later got merged with All India Radio. He was very active in Malayalam films from 1951 to 1965 and has written over 300 film songs of which most were hits. Thirunainar Kurichi and music director Brother Lakshmanan were a hit duo during the 1950s and 60s. Thirunainar Kurichi has also written numerous poems dramas and novels in the 1950s and 1960s.
Ponkathir is a 1953 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by E. R. Cooper and produced by P. Subramaniam. The film stars Prem Nazir and Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair. The film was dubbed into Tamil with the title Irulukku Pin and released in 1954.
Aana Valarthiya Vanampadi is a 1959 Indian Malayalam-language film directed and produced by P. Subramaniam. The film stars Thikkurissi, S. P. Pillai, Bahadoor, M. N. Nambiar, and Miss Kumari. The film had music by Br. Lakshmanan.
Manushya Mrugam is a 1980 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written by Pappanamkodu Lakshmanan, directed by Baby and produced by Thiruppathi Chettiyar under the banner of Evershine. The film is a remake of the 1975 Kannada film Daari Tappida Maga. The film stars Jayan, Jayaprabha, Seema, Jagathy Sreekumar, Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Jose Prakash. The film has musical score by K. J. Joy. The film was released on 17 December 1980.
Sakalakala Vallavan previously known as Appatakkar (transl. Know-it-all) is a 2015 Tamil-language comedy film written and directed by Suraj. The film stars Jayam Ravi, Trisha and Anjali, while Prabhu and Soori appear in supporting roles and Vivek in a guest appearance. S. Thaman composed the film's music, while cinematography was by U. K. Senthil Kumar and editing by Selva RK. The film was released on 31 July 2015.
N. L. Ganasaraswathi was an Indian playback singer who sang mainly in Tamil films and some Telugu and Malayalam films. She was active in the field during the 1950s and early 60s. She sang many songs based on Carnatic music ragas. Most of her songs were used for dance sequences in the films.
