Malayalam cinema, is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven realistic plots. 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) and Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu (2019) were Malayalam films sent by India as its official entries for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.
Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair, known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, television host and film distributor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada-language films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. Mohanlal's contributions to the Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army.
Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail, known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and English-language productions. In a career spanning five decades, he has acted in over 400 films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards, seven Kerala State Film Awards, and thirteen Filmfare Awards South. For his contribution to film, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 1998.
Prem Nazir was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. A popular cultural icon of Kerala, Nazir is often referred to as Nithyaharitha Nayakan. Nazir began his career as a stage actor and made his film debut with the 1952 film Marumakal. He took on the stage name Prem Nazir on the sets of his second film, Visappinte Vili (1952).
Ravi Shankar Sharma, often referred to mononymously as Ravi, was an Indian music director, who had composed music for several Hindi and Malayalam films. After a successful career in Hindi cinema, he took a break from the 1970s to 1984, and made a successful comeback in the Malayalam music scene under the stage name Bombay Ravi.
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 27 films in Hindi alone, the highest number of films done by any Hindi film director after David Dhawan. He was one of the first directors in India to introduce rich color grading, clear sound and quality dubbing through his early Malayalam films. Priyadarshan has also directed many advertisement films.
Lists of Malayalam films cover films produced by the Malayalam cinema industry in the Malayalam language. The first Malayalam silent movie, Vigathakumaran, directed by J. C. Daniel, began shooting in 1928 and was released in 1930. The lists are organized by release date.
Pulloottupadathu Bhaskaran alias as P. Bhaskaran, was a Malayalam poet, lyricist of Malayalam film songs and filmmaker. He penned more than 3000 songs for about 250 films. He also directed 44 Malayalam feature films and three documentaries, produced six feature films and acted in several movies. For his overall contributions to Malayalam cinema, he was awarded J. C. Daniel Award by the Government of Kerala.
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.
Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha, was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1979 Tamil film Pasi. She also received three Kerala State Film Awards: for Best Actress (1978), Best Supporting Actress (1977) and Best Child Artist (1971); and two Filmfare Awards South for Best Actress in Kannada (1978) and Tamil (1979) films. Considered one of the finest talents to have emerged in the Indian film world, her promising career was unexpectedly cut short as she committed suicide in 1980, due to unknown reasons. Her popularity resulted in considerable public scrutiny of the events that led to her death and also various conspiracy theories. The 1983 Malayalam film Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback is supposedly based on her life and death.
Manoj Kadampoothramadam Jayan is an Indian actor who predominantly acts in Malayalam and Tamil films in addition to a few Telugu and Kannada films, and he has also acted in a Bollywood film. Manoj has won three Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor, respectively for his portrayals of Hariharan's "Kuttan Thampuran" in Sargam (1992), "Thalakkal Chandu" in Pazhassi Raja (2009) and "Kunjiraman" in Farook Abdul Rahiman's Kaliyachan. His most critically acclaimed characters are "Kuttan Thampuran" (Sargam),"Thirumangalath Neelakandan Namboothiri" (Perumthachan),"Kunjunni Namboothiri" (Parinayam), "Unnikrishnan" (Venkalam),"Ananthakrishna Warrier" (Sopanam), "Digambaran" (Anandabhadram) and "Thalakkal Chandu" and many more. He is known for his polished acting skills and style quotient.
Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing four languages, namely, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. They were introduced in 1954, around the films released in 1952-53 and Filmfare Awards initially recognizing the Hindi film industry. In 1964 awards were extended in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi, around the films released in 1963. The inclusion of the Malayalam cinema in the awards came in 1967 while Kannada cinema was recognized in 1970. Each industry is given its own set of creative awards in annual ceremonies that have predominantly been held in Hyderabad and Chennai. Before 1976, the Awards ceremony was held in Mumbai along with Hindi awards. From 1976, Southern region film awards were separated from Hindi and moved to Chennai. Kamal Hassan and Uday Kiran hold the record for being the youngest to win the Best Actor award.
Sathyan was an Indian actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema. Known for his own style and versatility in acting, Satyan was one of the pioneers of realistic acting in Indian film industry. He is respectfully called Sathyan Master. He was also a soldier in the British Indian Army and later a police officer with the Travancore State Police.
K. Bhaskaran Nair, known by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director from Kerala. Adoor Bhasi was almost always cast as the man who stands next to the hero. His hilarious actions and roles became the cynosure of comic scenes in the Malayalam films of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, especially with Ever Green Hero of Malayalam Cinema, Shri Prem Nazir. He is also famous for his eloquent speeches in fluent English. He directed three Malayalam films during the late 1970s.
Padmini Ramachandran was an Indian actress and trained Bharatanatyam dancer, who acted in over 250 Indian films. She acted in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Russian language films. Padmini, with her elder sister Lalitha and her younger sister Ragini, were called the "Travancore sisters".
Kizhakkepainummoodu Easo Mathai, better known by his pen name Parappurath (1924–1981), was an Indian novelist, short story writer and screenwriter who wrote in the Malayalam language. His body of work comprises 20 novels, 14 short story anthologies and 15 screenplays. He was a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story (1966), Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel (1968) and Kerala State Film Award for Best Story, amongst other honours.
Merryland Studio is an Indian film studio based in Trivandrum, Kerala. It was the second film studio in Kerala, established in 1950 by former Trivandrum mayor and businessman P. Subramaniam. He produced 70 films, 59 of them directed by himself. He was active between 1951 – 1979. The studio's home productions were made under the company Neela Productions. Merryland Studio was famous for their professional rivalry with Kunchacko's Udaya Studio, the first film studio in Kerala. They resumed film production under the newly christened company Merryland Cinemas, debuting with Hridayam (2022).
Rajasree, also known as Rajasri or Rajashri, is an Indian actress active from 1956 to 1979. She is particularly famous for her portrayal as a princess in several folklore Telugu movies opposite N. T. Rama Rao and Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao and for acting alongside Ravichandran in the Tamil comedy films Neeyum Naanum, Kadhalikka Neram Illai and Delhi Mappilai. Notable among Rajasri's roles in non-folklore social films in Tamil are as Nimmi in the Tamil hit comedy film Kaadhalikka Neramillai, remade as Preminchi Choodu in Telugu, as movie star Bhama in Tamil film Bama Vijayam. She was credited as Gracy in the Malayalam movies she starred in her career since her debut film Bharya (1962), directed by Kunchako. Rajasree went on to do 200 films spread across the languages – Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi from beginning of 1956 to 1979.
Anandan, born as C. L. Anandan, was an Indian actor and producer who was active in Tamil cinema as well in Malayalam cinema during the second half of the 20th century. He was well known for his hero, supporting, and villain roles. In a career spanning close to three decades, he acted in about 60 films in Tamil and Malayalam, in which 25 films had him as hero. Anandan debuted in a supporting role in the Tamil movie Thandhai, and later he holds the heroic role in Vijayapuri Veeran. He made a move on the Malayalam film industry; Kaattumaina was his first Malayalam movie, which was also re-shot in Tamil. He appeared in a song sequence "Us Paar Saajan" as a fisherman dancer from the Hindi film Chori Chori (1956).
