Adoor Gopalakrishnan is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film Swayamvaram (1972), Gopalakrishnan pioneered the new wave in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s. In a career spanning over five decades, Gopalakrishnan has made only 12 feature films to date. His films are made in the Malayalam language and often depict the society and culture of his native state Kerala. Nearly all of his films premiered at Venice, Cannes and Toronto International Film Festival. Along with Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, Gopalakrishnan is one of the most recognized Indian film directors in world cinema.
Kamaluddin Mohammed Majeed, mononymously known as Kamal, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He was the former Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. Kamal made his directorial debut with the 1986 film Mizhineerppoovukal. In a career spanning over three decades, Kamal has directed over forty films. His films have won various National Film Awards and Kerala State Film Awards, including films such as Kakkothi Kaavile Appoppan Thaadikal (1988), Ulladakkam (1991), Mazhayethum Munpe (1995), Niram (1999), Madhuranombarakkattu (2000), Meghamalhar (2001), Nammal (2002), Perumazhakkalam (2004), Karutha Pakshikal (2006), and Celluloid (2013).
Ranjith Balakrishnan is an Indian film director, screenwriter, lyricist, producer, and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. Ranjith made his directorial debut in 2001 with Ravanaprabhu, the sequel to Devaasuram. His films Thirakkatha and Indian Rupee won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam in 2008 and 2011 respectively. He is also the current chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy.
The International Film Festival of Kerala is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. The festival is held in November or December every year and is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in India.
Mala Aravindan was an Indian actor. He was best known for his work as a comedian and character artist in Malayalam films. He has acted in over 500 films.
Madhupal Kannambathu is an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. Madhupal made his acting debut with Kashmeeram in 1994 and his directorial debut with Thalappavu (2008), which was about Naxal Varghese and won several awards in 2008.
Shyamaprasad is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from Kerala.
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.
S. P. Venkatesh is an Indian music director and composer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He was at his prime in the late 80s and 90s, being reputed for his background scores and songs in Malayalam cinema.
Perumbadavam Sreedharan is a Malayalam author from Kerala, India. He is former Chairman of Kerala Sahitya Akademi. He has written several novels and short stories. One of his best known novels is Oru Sankeerthanam Pole (1993) for which he won the Vayalar Award in 1996. He got Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Ashtapadi. In 2006, he was awarded the Malayattoor Award for his novel, Narayanam.
T. G. Ravindranathan, popularly known as T. G. Ravi, is an Indian actor, mainly noted for his roles as a villain in Malayalam cinema. He along with Balan K. Nair played most of the negative roles in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s and 1980s. Known for his body language and style of dialogue delivery, he played some of the biggest villain roles in Malayalam cinema during that period.
Venugopal, popularly known as Venu, is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune and CMS college Kottayam. He has been the recipient of four National Film Awards, including three for Best Cinematography and one Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director, and four Kerala State Film Awards. He is a founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
Patham Nilayile Theevandi is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Joshy Mathew. It stars Innocent, Jayasurya and Meera Nandan in pivotal roles. Chenda artist Mattannoor Sankarankutty composed music for the film. The film was a box office failure.
Raghunath Paleri is an Indian novelist, screenwriter, director and actor from Kerala.
Indrans Jayan is an Indian film costume designer working predominantly in Malayalam films. He won the National Film Award for Best Costume Design in 2009 and 2010. Born in Kumarapuram, Trivandrum, he is the cousin of the Malayalam film actor Indrans. He has worked as costume designer for close to 300 films.
Salem Ahamed is an Indian film director, screen writer and producer. After working for a long time as a travel consultant, he joined as a creative director and script writer in a television channel. His directorial debut, Adaminte Makan Abu (2011), fetched him numerous accolades and was screened at various international film festivals. It was also chosen as India's official entry to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the 84th Academy Awards. Then he made two movies Kunjananthante Kada (2013) and Pathemari (2015) with Mammootty as the lead. The later won the Best Feature Film In Malayalam award at the 63rd National Film Awards. Salim's latest film is And the Oscar Goes To...(2019), which tells about his own experiences with production and marketing of his first film.
Poovankery Francis Mathew is an Indian author of Malayalam literature and a screenplay writer in Malayalam film and Television industries. A Winner of a National Film Award for Best Screenplay and multiple State television and other literary awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel, he is known for his original style of writing. Literary works such as Muzhakkam, Kadalinte Manam, Adiyalapretham, Iruttil Oru Punyalan, and Chaavunilam and screenplays such as Sararaanthal, Mikhayelinte Santhathikal, Megham, Kutty Srank and Ee.Ma.Yau are his major works.
Ranjan Abraham is an Indian film editor who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He has worked over 100 Malayalam films. He started as an assistant of noted editor G. Venkitaraman. His first independent assignment was Maravathoorkanavu directed by debutant Lal Jose. He frequently collaborated with Joshiy, Lal Jose and Vineeth Sreenivasan.
T. P. Radhamani was an actress who was active in Malayalam and Tamil movies. She began her career at the age of 14. With about 105 films to her credit, the actress is best known for her role in Utharayanam. Oru Yathramozhi, the 1997 moving starring Mohanlal, was her last Malayalam film. She died on 20 October 2019 due to cancer. Her son is the actor Abhinay.
The 34th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards, honouring the best Malayalam films released in 2010, were announced in February 2011.
