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 based in Kochi.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.
Kerala music has a complex history distinct from Malayalam poetry, with which it is often associated. Though it is often driven by poetry, Kerala also has its roots in Carnatic music. Songs have always been a significant part of early Malayalam literature dating back to the 9th century CE. The significance of music in Kerala's culture can be deduced from the musical poetry that developed in the Malayalam language long before prose. As music evolved in the region, various branches emerged from it
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning around five decades, she has recorded over 25,000 Songs in various Indian languages languages such as Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Marathi, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Tulu, Badaga, Banjara, Urdu, Assamese, Gujarati and Sanskrit as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, Urdu (Pakistan), English and French.
Paliyath Jayachandran is an Indian playback singer and actor from Kerala. He has worked with many composers including G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, V. Dakshinamoorthy, K. Raghavan, M. K. Arjunan, M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Koti, Shyam, A. R. Rahman, M. M. Keeravani, Vidyasagar and M Jayachandran. He has sung more than 16000 songs in total in different languages. He also acted in few films.
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. He has composed music for more than 300 Malayalam films, the most by any composer except for Devarajan. He was the first music director from Malayalam cinema to be honoured with the National film Awards. He died of a heart attack in Chennai on 18 August 2011.
Madhavan Raveendran, alsoknown as Raveendran Master, was a South Indian music composer and playback singer from Kerala. He composed songs for more than 150 films primarily for the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He also composed a few albums, including Vasantha Geethangal, Ponnonatharangini and Rithugeethangal. Raveendran composed melodies based on Hindustani Ragas also.
Koduri Marakathamani Keeravaani, professionally known as M. M. Keeravani, is an Indian music composer, singer and lyricist, primarily associated with Telugu cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, Keeravani has earned numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two National Film Awards, eleven Nandi Awards, eight Filmfare Awards, and a LAFCA Award. In 2023, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions towards Indian cinema.
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.
Malabar Gopalan Nair Radhakrishnan was an Indian music director and Carnatic vocalist from Kerala.
Madhusoodanan Jayachandran Nair is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Ennu Ninte Moideen. He has composed music for 126 films.
Krishnan Raghavan, also fondly called Raghavan Master, was an Indian music composer who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema and also a carnatic vocalist. Along with G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. He is regarded as the pioneer in contributing Malayalam film songs with its own tunes and styles. Till then, Malayalam film songs were in the tunes of popular Hindi and Tamil film songs and old classical kritis. Raghavan gave a new direction and identity to Malayalam film music. He composed around 400 songs in Malayalam cinema and was active in the Malayalam film industry for nearly four decades. In 1997, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Sujith Vasudevan I, professionally credited as Sharreth, is an Indian music director and singer. He predominantly composes film scores and songs for Malayalam films, but has also composed many songs for the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film industries too.
Thooval Kottaram is a 1996 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film directed by Sathyan Anthikad and written by A. K. Lohithadas. It stars Jayaram in lead role. The music was composed by Johnson. The film won three Filmfare Awards South, was a commercial success, and ran for about 300 days in theatres. Jayaram won his first Kerala State Film Award, a Special Jury Award, for his role as Adv. Mohanachandra Poduval.
Daya is a 1998 Indian Malayalam-language period film written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, directed by Venu, and starring Manju Warrier in the title role. The film is a loose adaption of the story of Zumurrud from the Middle Eastern folktales One Thousand and One Nights: though the plot is somewhat different. Vishal Bhardwaj scored the music of the film. It was the directorial debut of cinematographer Venu. He won the awards for best debut director at the National Film Awards and Kerala State Film Awards.
T. S. Radhakrishnan, popularly known as Radhakrishnaji, is an Indian composer and music producer of devotional music and film music from Ernakulam, Kerala. He has composed over 300 devotional albums. His albums have been collaborations with leading Indian singers such as K. J. Yesudas, P. Leela, P. Susheela, S. Janaki, P. Jayachandran, K. S. Chithra, Hariharan, Manjari, Unni Menon, among others. He has collaborated on more than 200 albums. Most of his songs were written by R. K. Damodaran, P. C. Aravindan, S. Ramesan Nair and Chowallur Krishnankutty.
Kamukara Purushothaman was an Indian singer. He was a noted playback singer in Malayalam cinema during its early years. He has recorded over 170 songs in 68 movies in various South Indian languages.
Kambhoji is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language film written and directed by Vinod Mankara kambhoji is the highest grossing movie World wide along with avatar $2.789 billion.
