Malayalam cinema, also known as Mollywood, is the Indian film industry based in the southern state of Kerala, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven realistic plots. Works such as Marana Simhasanam and Vanaprastham were screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Marana Simhasanam garnered the coveted Caméra d'Or for that year.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, 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. He is one of the highly acclaimed singers in India. 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.
John Abraham was a Malayali Indian filmmaker, short story writer and screenwriter. John is ranked among the greatest Indian film directors. His film Amma Ariyan (1986) was the only south Indian feature film to make the list of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time by British Film Institute. Agraharathil Kazhuthai was listed among the "100 Greatest Indian Films" of all time by IBN Live's 2013 poll.
Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927-2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and carnatic vocalist. He scored music for more than three hundred Malayalam films, many dramas, and twenty Tamil and four Kannada movies. His collaborations with Vayalar Ramavarma produced the golden era of Malayalam film music and many of his compositions remain ever green classics in Malayalam. His music in the Tamil film Annai Velankanni has received many accolades. Devarajan received Kerala Government's Best Music Director award five times, among other honours. In 2005, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Madhavan Raveendran, , fondly known as Raveendran Master, was a popular South Indian music composer and playback singer from Kerala. He composed songs for more than 150 films primarily for the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He also composed a few albums, including Vasantha Geethangal, Ponnonatharangini and Rithugeethangal. Raveendran successfully composed melodies based on Hindustani Ragas also.
Unni Menon is an Indian film playback singer. He has sung over 3000 songs in Indian languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In the early part of his career, he spent many years as a low-profile playback singer. The turning point in his career came when he sang the song "Pudhu Vellai Mazhai" from Mani Ratnam's award-winning 1992 Tamil film Roja, composed by A. R. Rahman. He has frequently associated with A. R. Rahman, lending his voice to nearly 25 popular songs from films like Karuththamma (1994) and Minsaara Kanavu (1997).
Yathra is a 1985 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Balu Mahendra. It was remade by Balu Mahendra himself in Telugu as Nireekshana. Yatra stars Mammootty and Shobana in the lead.
B. Sivasankaran Nair, popularly known as Bichu Thirumala, was an Indian lyricist and poet. He is known for creating the style of arranging beautiful words in Malayalam film songs. In Malayalam cinema, Bichu Thirumala led the group of lyricists who wrote songs for readymade tunes. He won the Kerala State Film Award for the best lyricist two times. His prolific Malayalam film repertoire includes work with eminent composers like Shyam, G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamurthy, M.S. Baburaj, K. Raghavan, M.S. Viswanathan, A.T. Ummer, K.J. Joy, Shankar–Ganesh, Jaya Vijaya, Raveendran, Jerry Amaldev, Johnson, Ouseppachan, Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman and the list goes on.
Shibu Chakravarthy is an Indian lyricist, screenwriter, and poster designer who works in Malayalam cinema. He has wrote lyrics for about 200 songs from about 80 films. He has been the script writer for films including Nair Saab, Manu Uncle, and Adharvam. He wrote his first song for the movie Allimalarkkaavu in 1984, and he still an active figure in the industry. He started writing at an age of 18.
Photographer is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Ranjan Pramod. Starring Mohanlal, Neethu, Master Mani and Biju Menon in lead roles. The film is loosely based on the Muthanga incident of 2003, in which a policeman and a tribal were killed. Mohanlal plays dual roles as a wildlife photographer and a farmer. The soundtrack was composed by Johnson.
Vidyasagar is an Indian composer, musician and singer who works predominantly in the Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film industries. After working with several composers as assistant and conductor, Vidyasagar made his debut as a film composer in the 1989 Tamil film Poo Manam & nicknamed as Melody King Working for over 225 feature films, he is the recipient of the National Award and five Filmfare Awards.
Ratheesh Vega is a composer, singer, and musician who works in Malayalam films. His debut as a film music composer was in the 2010 hit film Cocktail.
Shutter is a 2012 Indian Malayalam thriller film written and directed by theater actor and playwright Joy Mathew in his directorial debut. The film set and filmed in Kozhikode, stars Lal, Sreenivasan, Vinay Forrt, Sajitha Madathil and Riya Saira. Renganaath Ravee does the sound design, Hari Nair cranks the camera. The film notably features a poem by Pablo Neruda, set to music and sung by Shahabaz Aman. Biby Sam and Jacob Panikker composed the background score for the film.
English: An Autumn in London (2013) is a Malayalam film written by Ajayan Venugopalan and directed by Shyamaprasad. A drama with slight tinges of black humour and satire, the film stars Jayasurya, Nivin Pauly, Mukesh, Nadia Moidu, Remya Nambeesan. The film is produced by Binu Dev under the banner of Navarang Screens and features music composed by Rex Vijayan, whilst cinematography is handled by Udayan Ambaadi and is edited by Vinod Sukumaran. The film tells the story of the lives of the Malayalees living in London.
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.
Post Mortem is a 1982 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by J. Sasikumar and produced by Pushparajan. The film stars Prem Nazir, Mammootty, Sukumaran and Balan K. Nair. The film's score was composed by KJ Joy. The film was remade in Tamil in 1983 as Vellai Roja, in Telugu in 1984 as S. P. Bhayankar, in Kannada in 1988 as Dharmathma and in Hindi in 1993 as Tahqiqaat.
Love Letter is a 1975 Indian Malayalam film, directed and produced by Dr. Balakrishnan. The film stars Vincent, Sudheer, Vidhubala, Jose Prakash, Manavalan Joseph, KPAC Lalitha and Pattom Sadan in the lead roles. The film has musical score by KJ Joy. And this was his very first film as a composer which kick started his illustrious career as a leading music director in Malayalam.
Lajjaavathi is a 1979 Indian Malayalam film, directed by G. Premkumar. The film stars Krishnachandran, Ambika, Baby Sumathi and K. A. Sivadas in the lead roles. The film has musical score by KJ Joy.
Madaalasa is a 1978 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by J. Williams and produced by Paul Vengola. The film stars Thikkurissi Sukumaran Nair, Sreelatha Namboothiri, Prathapachandran and Sukumaran. The film has musical score by K. J. Joy.
Oormakale Vida Tharu is a 1980 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by Ravi Gupthan. The film stars Srividya and Prathap Pothen. The film has musical score by KJ Joy.
