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 and Lakshadweep islands of india. Malayalam cinema includes the commercial film industry, sometimes known as Mollywood, as well as independent cinema made in Malayalam.
Bharathan was an Indian film maker, artist, and art director. Bharathan is noted for being the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Padmarajan and K. G. George, in the 1980s, which created films that were widely received while also being critically acclaimed. A train of directors, and screenwriters followed this school onto the 1990s including Sibi Malayil, Kamal, Lohithadas and Jayaraj.
Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail, known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and English-language productions. In a career spanning five decades, he has appeared in more than 420 films, predominantly in lead roles. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards, eleven Kerala State Film Awards, eleven Kerala Film Critics Awards and fifteen Filmfare Awards South. He was honored with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India in 1998, for his contributions to cinema. He was also honored with the Kerala Prabha Award by the Government of Kerala in 2022. Mammootty was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN.
P. A. Backer was one of the new-wave Malayalam film directors of the 1970s and 1980s.
Govindan Aravindan was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmmaking; he changed his cinematic forms consistently and experimented in storytelling without regular narrative styles.
Lenin Rajendran was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked in Malayalam cinema. He served as the Chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation from 2016 to January 2019.
Jayasurya is an Indian actor, distributor, sponsor, model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist who works in Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Award, three Kerala State Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South for acting and Best Actor at the Cincinnati Film Festival held in Cincinnati, US. Jayasurya has also appeared in a few Tamil films.
T. V. Chandran is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and actor, predominantly working in Malayalam cinema. Born in a Malayali family in Thalassery, Chandran worked as a Reserve Bank of India employee before entering the film industry. He started his film career as an assistant director to P. A. Backer. He also acted the lead role in Backer's highly acclaimed political drama Kabani Nadi Chuvannappol (1975). He made his directorial debut with the unreleased feature Krishnan Kutty (1981), and followed this with the Tamil film Hemavin Kadhalargal (1985). Chandran came into prominence after Alicinte Anveshanam (1989), which was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. This was followed with Ponthan Mada (1993), his most famous film to date. Chandran is most known for his art-house films which have references to history and undertones of politics and feminism. He is also known for his trilogy on 2002 Gujarat riots, consisting of Kathavasheshan (2004), Vilapangalkappuram (2008) and Bhoomiyude Avakashikal (2012). Other highly acclaimed films include Mangamma (1997), Dany (2001) and Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam (2003).
Alicinte Anveshanam is a 1989 Malayalam-language film written and directed by T. V. Chandran.The story revolves around a woman named Alice(Jalaja) who goes in search of her missing husband.
Dany is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language tragicomedy film written, directed, and produced by T.V. Chandran with Mammootty in the title role. It also stars the noted dancer Mallika Sarabhai, Vani Viswanath, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, Ratheesh, popular television actress Maya Moushmi, Raji Menon, and Narendra Prasad. It was released coinciding with the Christmas in December 2001. The film met with critical acclaim with most of the critics hailing the performance of Mammootty. It won numerous awards, including a National Film Award and three Kerala State Film Awards. This movie is a unofficial remake of Hollywood movie Forrest Gump starring Tom Hanks
Vattamparambil Krishnan Pavithran, known mononymously as Pavithran (1950–2006) was an Indian cinema director. He primarily concentrated on Malayalam films.
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, comedian and entrepreneur who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has also acted in Tamil, Hindi, and Kannada films. He has won several awards, including Kerala State Film Awards and one Filmfare Awards South.
Anoop Menon is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films.
Vipindas was an Indian cinematographer and director. He has cinematographed more than 200 films in Malayalam alone, and has directed a couple of films.
Mangamma is a 1997 Malayalam film written and directed by T. V. Chandran, and produced by National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC). It stars Revathi, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan and Thilakan in major roles.
Ormakalundayirikkanam is a 1995 Indian Malayalam-language political drama film directed by T. V. Chandran. Starring Mammootty, Master Nithin, Bharath Gopi, Priyambada Ray, Nedumudi Venu, Kukku Parameswaran and Sreenivasan, the film portrays the rise of the Communists to power in 1957 and the infamous Vimochana Samaram of 1959.
Krishnankutty is a 1981 Malayalam film that marks the directorial debut of T. V. Chandran. The film started production during the emergency period. A critical and commercial failure, this experimental film did not even have a wide public release. The film represents a continuation of P. A. Backer's style of independent film. The music for the film is composed by director Pavithran.
Chappa is a 1982 Malayalam film directed by P. A. Backer and starring Hari, Kunjandi and Beena. The film is about a lone individual's determined fight against tyranny. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. This was the debut movie of actor Zainuddin. He played a character named Vasu in this movie.
K. Ravindran (1945–2011), better known by his pen-name Chintha Ravi, was an Indian writer, journalist, film critic and film director.
Sarah Thomas was an Indian Malayalam language writer from Kerala. Her novel Narmadi Pudava won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 1979. Thomas was also a recipient of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contribution to Malayalam Literature.
