Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a "Classical Language of India" in 2013. Malayalam has official language status in Kerala and Puducherry (Mahé), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep and is spoken by 34 million people in India. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to the large populations of Malayali expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune etc.
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a South-Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala. The first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. Malayalam literature has been presented with 6 Jnanapith awards, the second-most for any Dravidian language and the third-highest for any Indian language.
Madhavan Nair, commonly known by his stage name Madhu, is an Indian actor, director, producer, former college lecturer and former film studio owner, who works in Malayalam cinema and a certain number of Hindi and Tamil films. He was a prominent lead actor during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and has acted in more than 400 films. Madhu has also directed 12 films, produced 15 films and at one time owned the Uma Film Studio. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013 for his contributions towards the arts. He was honored with the J. C. Daniel Award by the Government of Kerala in 2004, for his outstanding contributions to Malayalam films. He is the president of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) Kerala Unit.
The culture of Kerala has developed over the past millennia, influences from other parts of India and abroad. It is defined by its antiquity and the organic continuity sustained by the Malayali people. Modern Kerala society took shape owing to migrations from different parts of India and abroad throughout Classical Antiquity.
K. S. Sethumadhavan was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He also directed films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Parutholli Chalappurathu Kuttikrishnan, popularly known by his pen name Uroob was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Along with Basheer, Thakazhi, Kesavadev, and Pottekkatt, Uroob was counted among the progressive writers in Malayalam during the twentieth century. He was known for his novels such as Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum and Ummachu, short stories like Rachiyamma and the screenplays of a number of Malayalam films including Neelakuyil, the first Malayalam feature film to receive the National Film Award. He was a recipient of several honours including Kendra Sahithya Academy Award and the inaugural Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel.
Maheshwari Amma, better known by her stage name K. P. A. C. Lalitha, was an Indian film and stage actress who worked primarily in the Malayalam film industry. She started her acting career with Kerala People's Arts Club, a theatre collective in Kayamkulam, Kerala. In a career spanning five decades, she starred in over 550 films.
The Malayalam Wikipedia is the Malayalam edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia, and was launched on December 21, 2002. The project is the leading Wikipedia among other South Asian language Wikipedias in various quality matrices. It has grown to be a wiki containing 83,675 articles as of June 2023, and ranks 13th in terms of depth among Wikipedias.
Neelakuyil is a 1954 Malayalam film jointly directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat. It is a neo-realistic melodrama and was based on a story written by Uroob who co-wrote the screenplay and dialogues along with P. Bhaskaran. It stars Sathyan, Miss Kumari, Prema, P. Bhaskaran and Master Vipin. The plot revolves around Neeli, a Dalit peasant girl, who falls in love with Sreedharan Nair, a high caste teacher.
K. Jayakumar is an Indian civil servant, poet, and author. He was an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from Kerala who retired as the Chief Secretary of the Government of Kerala. He has also worked as lyricist, translator and screenwriter. He is the son of film director M. Krishnan Nair. He has served as the founding vice-chancellor of the Malayalam University.
Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Sathyan Anthikkad and written by Sreenivasan from a story by Anthikkad. The film stars Mohanlal, Karthika, Sreenivasan and M. G. Soman. The film features songs composed by Jerry Amaldev and background score by Shyam.
K. P. Ramanunni (Malayalam:കെ.പി.രാമനുണ്ണി) is a novelist and short-story writer from Kerala, India. His first novel Sufi Paranja Katha won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1995 and the novel Daivathinte Pusthakam won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017. Jeevithathinte Pusthakam won the 2011 Vayalar Award.
Kizhakke Potta Udayabhanu was an Indian playback singer and music director, mainly in Malayalam films. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.
Aarachaar is a Malayalam novel written by K. R. Meera. Originally serialised in Madhyamam Weekly in continuous 53 volumes, the novel was published as a book by DC Books in 2012. It was translated by J. Devika into English under the title Hangwoman: Everyone Loves a Good Hanging.
Prof. Panmana Ramachandran Nair was a Malayalam language writer, translator, linguist and academic from Kerala, India. He has received Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions in the field of Malayalam literature. His autobiography Smrithi Rekhakal was published in 2010.
K. Kunhiraman who writes under the pen name K. Panoor is a civil rights activist, poet and writer from Kerala, India. He has received several noted awards including the UNESCO Award, the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions and Award from the Department of Culture, India government. Panoor's books were used as textbooks in various universities in Kerala. He played a key role in the formation of the Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (CHRO) and was its first chairman.
S. K. Vasanthan is a Malayalam history researcher, academic and writer from Kerala, India. He has published several books in various genres such as essay, novel, short story, history of Kerala and translation.
K. P. Sudheera is a Malayalam language writer from Kerala, India. She has published 80 works in various genres, including novels, poetry, travelogues, biographies, memoirs, translations, letters, and children's literature. Many of her works have been translated to Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages.
K. P. Sankaran is a Malayalam–language literary critic from Kerala, India. Born on 15 May 1939 in Painkulam in Trichur district of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin, he was a teacher at Changanacherry S.B. College, Trichur Kerala Varma College and Mysore Regional Institute of Education from where he retired in 2001. He resides with his wife Kamala Devi in Kottapparambu near Chelavoor, Calicut since 2019. He has authored around 30 books.
S Rahul is a poet and writer in Malayalam. His poems and articles have been published in many periodicals. He has also translated many poems and literary works. He is an active social activist and orator. He is currently the district joint secretary of cultural organization Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham. He was the Executive Editor of Festival Handbook and Daily Bulletin at International Film Festival of Kerala(IFFK).
