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. Malayalam cinema includes the commercial film industry, sometimes known as Mollywood, as well as independent cinema made in Malayalam.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu, 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. 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.
Thattil Antony Johnson, popularly known as Johnson Master, was an Indian film score composer and music director who has given music to some of the most important motion pictures of Malayalam cinema, including those for Koodevide, Namukku Paarkkan Munthiri Thoppukal, Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam, Vadakkunokkiyantram, Perumthachan, Njan Gandharvan, Ponthan Mada, and Bhoothakkannadi. Regarded as one of the finest composers in the industry, he was noted for his lyrical and expressive melodies together with simple but rich tonal compositions of thematic music. Johnson is a recipient of National Film Awards twice and Kerala State Film Awards five times.
Thilakkam (transl. Glitter) is a 2003 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film directed by Jayaraj and written by Rafi Mecartin. Dileep, Kavya Madhavan, and Thiagarajan play the lead roles. The rest of the cast includes Nedumudi Venu, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Nishanth Sagar, Jagathy Sreekumar, Cochin Haneefa, Harisree Ashokan, Salim Kumar, and Bindu Panicker. It was remade in Kannada as Nandeesha in 2012, starring Komal.
Alex Paul is an Indian music director who works in Malayalam cinema. He has composed music for fifty films.
Siddique Ismail was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He made his directorial debut with the Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking (1989). His screenwriting debut came with the Malayalam film Pappan Priyappetta Pappan (1986). His final film was Big Brother (2020).
Rock N' Roll is a 2007 Malayalam musical comedy film written and directed by Ranjith, starring Mohanlal, Lakshmi Rai, Siddique, Lal, Mukesh, Manoj K.Jayan, Rahman,Anoop Menon,Harisree Ashokan, and Jagathy Sreekumar. The film tells the story of seven musicians in Chennai, the major centre of film production in South India. It was released on 9 November coinciding with Deepavali. It received negative reviews and was considered a commercial disaster at the time of release. Over the years, the movie along with Mohanlal's performance has attained a cult status. Suraj Venjaramoodu's cameo role as a fraud musician was widely acclaimed and is often considered one of his early breakthroughs.
M. P. Michael, better known by his stage name Lal, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, producer and distributor who predominantly works in Malayalam and Tamil films and in a few Telugu films. Lal has won several awards, including a National Film Award – Special Mention for acting (2012), two Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor, and a Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam (2008). He is the owner of Lal Media Arts, a post-production studio.
Pappan Priyapatta Pappan is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language fantasy film directed by Sathyan Anthikad and written by Siddique–Lal. It stars Mohanlal, Rahman, Thilakan, Lissy, Bahadoor, Unni Mary, Rajan P. Dev, and Sankaradi. This is the debut film of Siddique-Lal duo and Harisree Ashokan. The storyline is similar to Heaven Can Wait.
Ramji Rao Speaking is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-thriller film written and directed by the duo Siddique–Lal and produced by Fazil, Swargachitra Appachan, and Ousepachan Vaalakuzhy. It stars Sai Kumar, Mukesh, Innocent, Vijayaraghavan, Devan, Rekha, with Sankaradi, Sukumari, Kunchan and Mamukkoya in other supporting roles. The film deals with social factors affecting Kerala including unemployment during the 1980s, and went on to achieve a cult classic status.
Nadakkaparambil Francis Varghese was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam film industry. He began his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, acting in minor roles, but later he turned to strong villain roles. Akashadoothu was his major break through in career. He acted in more than 100 films. He died at the age of 53 when he suffered a heart attack and fell unconscious while driving his car. He lived along with his wife, three daughters and a son.
Nandanam is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language romantic film written, co-produced and directed by Ranjith. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Revathi, Navya Nair, Aravind Akash, Siddique and Saikumar. Playback singer K. J. Yesudas and Sudheesh make guest appearances. The film won four Kerala State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards South awards.
Punjabi House is a 1998 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film written and directed by Rafi Mecartin. It stars Dileep and Harisree Ashokan as Unni and Ramanan with Mohini, Jomol, Lal, Cochin Haneefa, Thilakan, Janardhanan and N. F. Varghese in other pivotal roles. It revolves around Unni, a debt-ridden entrepreneur who attempts suicide by jumping into the sea so that his family can use the insurance money to repay his debts. However, he survives and is rescued by two debt ridden fisherman, who keep him as a servant in the house of a Punjabi family of moneylenders, so that they can repay the sum at a later time.
Thenkasipattanam is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film written and directed by Rafi Mecartin, produced by Lal, and starring Suresh Gopi, Lal and Dileep as male leads and Samyuktha Varma, Geethu Mohandas and Kavya Madhavan as female leads with Salim Kumar and Spadikam George in supporting roles. The film went on to become an industry hit surpassing the records of the movie Narasimham.
Rafi and Mecartin are a screenwriter and director duo best known for comedy films in Malayalam cinema. Raffi's younger brother Shafi is also a well-known film director. Raffi is also the nephew of director Siddique from the Siddique–Lal duo. He has scripted and directed successful films such as Puthukkottayile Puthumanavalan (1995), Superman (1997), Punjabi House (1998), Thenkasipattanam (2000), Chathikkatha Chanthu (2004), Pandippada (2005), and Hallo (2007). The duo has also written the scripts for Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava (1995), Aadyathe Kanmani (1995), Dilliwala Rajakumaran (1996), Kusruthi Kuruppu (1998), One Man Show (2001), Thilakkam (2003), and Mayavi (2007) among others, for other directors.
One Man Show is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Shafi and written by the Rafi Mecartin duo. It stars Jayaram, Mukesh, Samyuktha Varma, Lal, Manya, Kalabhavan Mani and Narendra Prasad. The story unfurls itself in the course of a TV game show. This film was a huge commercial success at the box office. The film was remade in Tamil as Kalakkura Chandru (2007).
M. L. Varghese, popularly known by stage name Machan Varghese, was a Malayalam film actor and mimicry artist. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan and debuted as an actor through Kabooliwala. Thereafter he played many notable roles in Malayalam films, mainly as a comedian. His association with Siddique-Lal, Rafi-Mecartin and Lal Jose are particularly noted. Within a career of nearly two decades, he acted in over 100 films. Varghese died on 3 February 2011 in Kozhikode of cancer. He was aged 50.
Ben Johnson is a 2005 Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Anil C. Menon and produced by Milan Jaleel. The film stars Kalabhavan Mani in a dual role as a father and son with Indraja, Siddique, Harisree Ashokan and Vijayaraghavan. The film has songs composed by Deepak Dev. It was released on 24 June 2005. The songs were well received, especially the song "Sona..Sona.." sung by Kalabhavan Mani and "Iniyum mizhikal nirayaruthe" by K.J. Yesudas. It was later dubbed in Odia under the same title. The movie was a hit and one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.
Mamas Ramachandran, better known as Mamas, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and caricaturist. He made his directorial debut in 2010 with Paappi Appacha.
Abel Periyappuram, commonly known as Fr. Abel, was an Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic CMI priest, journalist, and lyricist, best known as the founding father of Kalabhavan, a centre for learning performance arts in Kochi, India. Periyappuram, with the help of K. K. Antony, a music teacher, and K. J. Yesudas, then a budding playback singer, started Kalabhavan as the Christian Arts Club to promote Christian music, in the year 1969. Soon, with the support of Archbishop Joseph Parecattil and the Archdiocese of Eranakulam, the Club was registered as Kalabhavan.
