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, 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. The film Marana Simhasanam has won the prestigious Caméra d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.
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.
Unni Menon is an Indian film playback singer. He has recorded over 4000 songs in many Indian languages including 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 with the song "Pudhu Vellai Mazhai" from Mani Ratnam's award-winning 1992 Tamil film Roja, composed by A. R. Rahman.
Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian playback singer, sung more than 2500+ songs, working mainly for the South Indian film industry. She is also a voice actor, entrepreneur, composer, television presenter, radio jockey, linguist, and a classical dancer. She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company Blue Elephant, a skincare company importing K-beauty to India - Isle Of Skin, and a medi-spa Deep Skin Dialogues in Chennai and Hyderabad. She is often credited as Chinmayee and Indai Haza. She rose to fame for her critically acclaimed song "Oru Deivam Thantha Poovae" from the National Award winning movie Kannathil Muthamittal directed by Mani Ratnam and composed by A. R. Rahman. She was 15 years old when she made her singing debut in Kannathil Muthamittal. She debuted as a Dubbing Artist in director Krishna's Sillunu Oru Kaadhal rendering her voice for Bhumika Chawla, after being referred by one of A. R. Rahman's sound engineers. She debuted as a composer with a short lullaby titled Laali, which she also sang and released as part of Instagram's #1MinMusic. She is also a social activist often raising her voice against issues faced by women and has been the face of the second wave of #MeToo movement in India.
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.
Ninaithale Inikkum is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by K. Balachander starring Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Jaya Prada and Geetha. The story was written by Sujatha. The film was also simultaneously shot in Telugu as Andamaina Anubhavam. A large part of the film was shot in Singapore. The film was later dubbed in Hindi as Pyara Tarana.
Rekhitha R. Kurup, better known by her stage name Bhamaa, is an Indian former actress who predominantly appeared in Malayalam and Kannada-language films. She made her cinematic debut in 2007 with the Malayalam film Nivedyam, directed by A. K. Lohithadas and had acted in over 42 films.
Javed Ali is an Indian playback singer who predominantly sings in Hindi. He has also sung in various Indian languages including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
The Vijay for Best Female Playback Singer is given by STAR Vijay as part of its annual Vijay Awards ceremony for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The award was first given in 2007.
Bela Shende is an Indian playback singer. She performed several songs in Bollywood and other film Indian industries. "Mann Mohana" from the film Jodhaa Akbar, "Su Che" from the film What's Your Raashee?, "Wajle Ki Baara" and "Apsara Aali" from Natarang are some of her famous songs. In 2014 she was awarded the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Khurkhura" from the Marathi film Tuhya Dharma Koncha.
Karayilekku Oru Kadal Dooram is a 2010 Malayalam film directed by Vinod Mankara, starring Indrajith, Mamta Mohandas and Dhanya Mary Varghese in the lead roles.
Aalap Raju is a playback singer and a bass guitar player from Chennai, India. His rendition of Enamo Aedho from the movie Ko composed by Harris Jayaraj topped the music charts for several months in 2011 and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer – 2011. He has sung for music directors like Harris Jayaraj, Thaman, G.V Prakash, Deepak Dev, D.Imman, Sreekanth Deva and many more. His other noticeable songs include Vaaya moodi summa iru da from Mugamoodi, Engeyum Kadhal from Engeyum Kadhal, Endhan Kann Munnae from Nanban, Kadhal Oru Butterfly and Akila Akila from Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, Anjana Anjana from Vandhan Vendran, Kuthu Kuthu from Ayyanar, Nenjodu Cherthu from Yuvvh, Theeyae Theeyae from Maattrraan, Jal Jal Osai from Manam Kothi Paravai, and Maya Bazaar from Ennai Arindhaal.
Rex Vijayan is an Indian composer, guitarist, singer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Kerala. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist for the alternative Malayali rock band Avial. He started out his career as a composer in the Malayalam film industry through Kerala Cafe by giving the score to Anwar Rasheed's segment 'Bridge'.
Divya S. Menon is an Indian musician and television anchor from Kerala. Divya is a playback singer in Malayalam cinema, who has also recorded songs for Tamil and Telugu films. Divya started anchoring musical shows in Asianet Cable Vision (Thrissur) and has done musical shows in Yes Indiavision (Mementos) and Kairali Channels.
Shakthisree Gopalan is an Indian vocalist, composer, songwriter and performer, famous for her collaborations with the top south-Indian music composers like A.R. Rahman. Aside from the film music, she is a regular in the independent music scene, performing with various bands over the years dabbling in Pop, R'n'B, trip-hop and jazz.
Vaikom Vijayalakshmi is an Indian playback singer from Kerala, India. She is an expert in a rare musical instrument called Gayatriveena. She won special jury mention for her much appreciated work in the 2013 film Celluloid. She was born at Vaikom on 7 October 1981 and later on moved to Chennai. In 2022, she was honoured with Kerala Sree Award, third highest civilian award given by the Government of Kerala.
Yazin Nizar, also credited as Yasin, is a playback singer working predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi-language films, with over 800 film songs with several multilingual chart busters. He is the singer of Oscar Award-winning Naatuin Tamil and Malayalam.
Sanjith Hegde is an Indian playback singer. Hegde has sung songs in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. His rendition of "Gundu Gunuguva" from the film Dalapathi composed by Charan Raj topped the music charts for a year. Sanjith won the Mirchi Music Awards South Best Upcoming Male Vocalist for the song "Kush Kush" from the film Chamak.
Sowmya Menon is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam films. She made her movie debut in the 2018 Malayalam film Kinavalli. She played the leading role in the Malayalam movie Children's Park followed by movies like Margamkali and Fancy Dress.
"Verithanam" (transl. Frenzy) is an Indian Tamil-language song from the 2019 sports action film Bigil directed by Atlee. Composed by A. R. Rahman, the song featured lyrics written by Vivek and sung by actor Vijay, who also played the protagonist in the film. It is the first song Vijay has recorded for Rahman. The song was released by Sony Music India on 1 September 2019, and its video version was unveiled on 1 November.
