Malayalam cinema is the Indian film industry based in the southern state of Kerala, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language. It is also known by the sobriquet Mollywood in various print and online media. Malayalam film industry is the fourth biggest film industry in India. The films produced here are known for their cinematography and story-driven realistic plots. Works such as Marana Simhasanam and Vanaprastham were screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Marana Simhasanam garnered the coveted Caméra d'Or for that year.
Bhavatharani Raja is an Indian Tamil singer and music director. She is the daughter of film composer Ilaiyaraaja and her brothers are the noted film composers Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja. She has mostly sung songs under the direction of her father and brothers. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2000 for her rendition of the song "Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu" from the film Bharathi, composed by her father Ilaiyaraaja.
Chithram is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language screwball comedy film written and directed by Priyadarshan. The film was produced by P. K. R. Pillai under his production house Shirdi Sai Creations, and stars Mohanlal, Ranjini, Nedumudi Venu, Poornam Vishwanathan, Sreenivasan, M. G. Soman, Sukumari, Lizy, Maniyanpilla Raju, and Shanavas, while Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair makes a cameo appearance. The songs were composed by Kannur Rajan and film score by Johnson. Mohanlal won the Kerala State Film Award - Special Jury Award for his performance in this film.
Dalip Tahil is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He studied at Sherwood College in Nainital, India. After attending Aligarh Muslim University for a year, he graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Tahil is best known for his work in Baazigar (1993) and Raja (1995).
Maliampurackal Chacko Punnoose, known as Navodaya Appachan was an Indian film producer, director and entrepreneur. He is best known for his work in Malayalam cinema, especially as the founder of Navodaya Studio.
A. C. Zainuddin was an Indian actor assistant director and comedian, who worked in Malayalam cinema.
My Dear Kuttichathan is a 1984 Indian Malayalam-language fantasy film directed by Jijo Punnoose and produced by his father Navodaya Appachan under Navodaya Studio. It was the first Indian film to be filmed in 3D format. The screenplay was written by Raghunath Paleri, the story revolves around a mystical Indian ghost called "Kuttichathan" who is confined under the spell of an evil sorcerer, however it gets released by three children and then befriends them. The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, cinematography and editing was done by Ashok Kumar and T. R. Shekhar, respectively.
Rajagopala Kulashekharan was an Indian music composer who worked mainly for Malayalam movies. He composed music for 52 films, and was the music conductor for more than 100 films. He is best known as the father of music composer A. R. Rahman.
Navodaya Studio is an Indian film studio headquartered at Kakkanad, Kerala. It is one of the earliest film studios in Kerala, established in 1976 by Navodaya Appachan. Navodaya is known for producing some of the landmark films in Indian cinema.
Binu Sasidharan is an Indian film maker known for his work in the Malayalam Film industry. He made his debut feature film Once Upon a Time which is being touted as Malayalam’s first full-length animated feature film. Binu, has previously directed on an animated version of film CID Moosa and more recently he was the maker of Malayalam’s first animated stereoscopic 3D video film for home theaters named Kuttichathan.
Ashok Kumar Aggarwal was an Indian cinematographer who worked mainly in the South Indian film industry. In a career that spanned nearly four decades, he worked in over 125 feature films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages. Aggarwal was a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
Alummoodan was a Malayalam film actor. He acted in more than 100 films. He acted mainly in comedy roles.
Sonia is an Indian film and television actress in Malayalam and Tamil movies and serials. She debuted, at the age of three, as a child artist in the Malayalam film Ival Oru Naadodi. She continued to appear in many films as a child actor, credited as Baby Sonia. During her childhood she lent her voice for many child artists mainly for Baby Shalini. She got Kerala State Film Award for Best Child artist for the movie Nombarathi Poovu in 1987. She acts in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu movies as well. Her brother Tinku is an actor in Tamil movies.
Kothanda Ramaiah is an Indian Tamil film director, producer, distributor and exhibitor. He has held various leading positions in different film industry organizations.
Gayathri Ashokan is an Indian poster designer and screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. He is considered as a pioneer in poster designing art along with P. N. Menon in Malayalam film industry. His debut design was for director Padmarajan' s Koodevide where he created a poster with all characters appearing in postage stamp. The posters created a very good impact among filmgoers. He has designed Promotional posters for over 700 films including Tamil films. Ashokan introduced the airbrush concept in Malayalam posters.
Rajakokila/Rajkokila was an Indian film actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1970s in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu films. She was well noted for her glamorous roles. She entered film field with the film Yakshi in 1968. She is married to Crossbelt Mani. The actress Meena is her niece.
Surya TV is an Indian pay television channel headquartered in Kochi, Kakkanad that was launched in 1998. It is the second privately-owned television channel in Malayalam-language, which began to air after Asianet. The channel is part of Sun TV Network, which is headquartered at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Kuttichaathan is a 1975 Indian Malayalam film, directed by Crossbelt Mani. The film stars Adoor Bhasi, Sreelatha Namboothiri, Bahadoor and K. P. Ummer in the lead roles. The film has musical score by R. K. Shekhar.
Jijo Punnoose is an Indian film director, producer and actor from Kerala. He is best known for directing the two landmark films in Malayalam cinema—Padayottam (1982) and My Dear Kuttichathan (1984). He is the eldest son of producer Navodaya Appachan. Jijo directed Padayottam was the first indigenously shot 70mm film in India, and My Dear Kuttichathan is the first 3D film in India.
Rashmi Boban is a popular Malayalam film, Malayalam TV Actress, who has worked mainly in Mollywood. She is married to veteran Malayalam film Director Boban Samuel.She started her career as an anchor.
