Malayalam cinema, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language 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. Rajiv Anchal's Guru (1997), Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu (2011), Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu (2019) and Jude Anthany Joseph’s 2018 (2023) were Malayalam films sent by India as its official entries for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.
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.
Suresh Gopi is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his acting debut as a child in the 1965 film Odayil Ninnu. He made his debut as an adult in 1986 and since then, he has acted in more than 250 films. Suresh Gopi is a recipient of the National Film Award and the Kerala State Film Award in 1998 for his performance in Kaliyattam. He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.
Karthika Menon, better known by her stage name Bhavana, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Kannada language films in addition to Tamil and Telugu films. She is the recipient of two Kerala State Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Debuting with the film Nammal (2002) and appearing in several successful Malayalam films like Chronic Bachelor (2003), C.I.D. Moosa (2003), Swapnakoodu (2003), Chathikkatha Chanthu (2004), Naran (2005), Chotta Mumbai (2007) and Marykkundoru Kunjaadu (2010), Tamil films including Chithiram Pesuthadi (2006), Jayamkondaan (2008) and Aasal (2010), and successful Kannada films like Jackie (2010), Vishnuvardhana (2011) and Romeo (2013), she established herself as one of the most sought-after actresses in South Indian cinema.
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.
Harris Jayaraj is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi.
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.
Prithviraj Sukumaran is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam and Tamil language films. He has also done Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of roles and has received several awards including a National Film Award, three Kerala State Film Awards, a Tamil Nadu State Film Award and a Filmfare Awards South.
Vijay Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.
Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films, predominantly in Malayalam films. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 films. He composed as many as 1400 songs over a period of 63 years. Fondly known as Swami, he was instrumental in pioneering classical music-based film songs. Revered as one of the forefathers of the Malayalam music industry, he has mentored many of the renowned contemporary singers and composers including P Leela and K.J Yesudas. In 1998, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Mechery Louis Ouseppachan, known mononymously as Ouseppachan, is an Indian film composer and singer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He is a recipient of National Film Award, Filmfare Award and Kerala State Film Awards for his numerous film soundtrack albums and background scores.
Renji Panicker is an Indian actor, scriptwriter, director, film producer, and journalist best known for his Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with Bharatchandran IPS in 2005.
Mazhayethum Munpe is a 1995 Malayalam romantic drama film directed by Kamal and written by Sreenivasan. The film stars Mammootty, Shobhana, Annie and Sreenivasan in the lead roles. The plot is centered upon a college professor named Nandakumar, his fiancée Uma Maheshwari, and his student Shruthi. The film was a commercial success. Annie won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance as Shruthi. In 2005, this movie was remade in Hindi by the same director as Zameer: The Fire Within starring Ajay Devgan, Ameesha Patel and Mahima Chaudhry.
Kaliyattam is a 1997 Indian Malayalam-language tragedy film directed by Jayaraj. It stars Suresh Gopi, Lal, Manju Warrier, and Biju Menon. The film is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Othello, set against the backdrop of the Theyyam performance of Kerala. The film's screenplay is written by Balram Mattannur. Suresh Gopi plays Kannan Perumalayan, the equivalent to Othello. Lal plays Paniyan, the equivalent to Iago. Manju Warrier plays Thamara, the Desdemona version. And Biju Menon plays Kanthan, Cassio's role. Suresh Gopi's role as Kannan Perumalayan was critically acclaimed and it was considered one of his finest acting performances in his career.
Nithya Menen is an Indian actress and singer who has acted predominately in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. She appeared first on-screen as a child, when she was eight, in the French-Indian English film, Hanuman (1998), playing the younger sister to Tabu's character. At the age of 15, she appeared in a supporting role in the Kannada film 7 O' Clock, which was released in 2006. She has played leading roles in Malayalam in Aakasha Gopuram (2008), in Telugu in Ala Modalaindi (2011), in Tamil with Nootrenbadhu (2011). Her Hindi debut was Mission Mangal (2019).
Gopi Sundar C. S. is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries.
Tovino Thomas is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film Prabhuvinte Makkal. His breakthrough roles were in the films ABCD (2013), 7th Day (2014) and Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015). He starred as the titular character in the Netflix superhero film Minnal Murali (2021).
1983 is a 2014 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age sports film directed by fashion photographer Abrid Shine, who wrote the story and co-wrote the script with Bipin Chandran. The film, produced under the banner of Shams Films, stars Nivin Pauly in the lead role. Anoop Menon, Nikki Galrani, Joy Mathew, Srinda Arhaan, Jacob Gregory, Saiju Kurup, Shine Tom Chacko, Dinesh, Sui Joseph, Neeraj Madhav and Sanju, make up the rest of the cast. Pradeesh Varma cranked the camera and the music director was Gopi Sunder, for which he received the 62nd National Film Awards for Best Background Score.
Theevandi is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy drama film directed by Fellini T. P. and written by Vini Vishwa Lal. The film stars Tovino Thomas, Samyuktha, Sudheesh, Surabhi Lakshmi, Rajesh Sharma, Suraj Venjarammoodu, Saiju Kurup, and Shammi Thilakan in lead-roles. Principal photography began in November 2017 and ended around January 2018. Kailas Menon composed the music and Appu Bhattathiri was the editor. The film was released on 7 September 2018.
Minnale is the debut soundtrack album composed by Harris Jayaraj for the 2001 film of the same name, starring Madhavan, Abbas, Reema, Vivek and Nagesh, and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon in his directorial debut. The film's soundtrack comprised nine songs, written by Vaali, Thamarai and C. S. Amudhan.
