Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the South Indian film industry as well as Hindi cinema. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artist. She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Manichitrathazhu is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language epic psychological horror film directed by Fazil, written by Madhu Muttam, and produced by Swargachitra Appachan. The film stars Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Shobana with Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Vinaya Prasad, K.P.A.C.Lalitha, Sridhar, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, Sudheesh, and Thilakan in supporting roles. The story is inspired by a tragedy that happened in an Ezhava tharavad of Alummoottil meda' a old located at Muttom, Alappuzha district, a central Travancore Channar family, in the 19th century.
Meena Kumari was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as The Tragedy Queen, she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari is widely considered one of the greatest actress of Indian cinema. In a career spanning 33 years, she starred in over 90 films until her premature death in 1972.
Muthu (transl. Pearl) is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar, and produced by Kavithalayaa Productions. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena and Sarath Babu; with Radha Ravi, Senthil, Vadivelu, Jayabharathi, Subhashri and Ponnambalam all acting in supporting roles. It is a remake of the Malayalam film Thenmavin Kombath (1994). The film revolves around a zamindar and his worker falling in love with the same woman who, unknown to the zamindar, loves the worker exclusively.
Meena Alexander was an Indian American poet, scholar, and writer. Born in Allahabad, India, and raised in India and Sudan, Alexander later lived and worked in New York City, where she was a Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center.
Chandrolsavam is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film written and directed by Ranjith. It stars Mohanlal with Meena, Ranjith, Cochin Haneefa, VK Sreeraman, Santhosh and Jagadish in supporting roles. V. Dakshinamoorthy makes a cameo appearance as Sreehari's guru. The film features music composed by Vidyasagar.
Gumrah (transl. Astray) is a 1963 Hindi-language romantic drama film produced and directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Sunil Dutt, Ashok Kumar, Mala Sinha, Nirupa Roy, Deven Verma and Shashikala. The music was composed by Ravi and the lyrics were by Sahir Ludhianvi. The film was a box office success. It was remade in Malayalam as Vivahitha (1970). For her performance, Shashikala won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Nasrani is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language political thriller film directed by Joshiy, produced by Rajan Thaliparambu, written by Ranjith and starring Mammootty. The film tells the story of an Achayan from a Syrian Orthodox family in Central Travancore. K.P.A.C. Lalitha won the Asianet Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role.
Saranya Mohan is a former Indian actress, who predominantly appeared in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has also acted in a few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. She is best known for her performances in Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008), Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009), Eeram (2009), Velayudham (2011) and Osthe (2011).
Oru CBI Diary Kurippu is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language mystery thriller film directed by K. Madhu, written by S. N. Swamy, and starring Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Jagathy Sreekumar, Mukesh, and Sukumaran. The lead character, CBI officer Sethurama Iyer is inspired by a police officer named Radha Vinod Raju, Jammu and Kashmir cadre IPS Officer who in 2009 was appointed as the first chief of India's National Investigation Agency. It was the highest grossing Malayalam film at that time. Considered one of the best crime thrillers in Malayalam, it eventually developed a cult following. This is the first instalment in the CBI film series featuring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer.
Shanta Meena, credited as Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran, is an Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu movies and along with several Malayalam and Tamil television soap operas. She is the daughter of actress Lakshmi.
Sarah Joseph is an Indian novelist and short story writer in Malayalam. She won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and the Vayalar Award for her novel Aalahayude Penmakkal. She is a leader of the feminist movement in Kerala and is the founder of the activist organization Manushi. She joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 and contested the 2014 parliament elections from Thrissur.
Varnapakittu is a 1997 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by I. V. Sasi and written by Babu Janardhanan from a story by Jokuttan. The film features Mohanlal and Meena in lead roles, with Dileep, Divya Unni, Madhu, Jagadish, Rajan P. Dev, M. G. Soman in supporting roles. The movie, directed by I V Sasi, was a commercial success.
P. K. Rosy was an Indian actress in Malayalam cinema. Her Pulaya (Dalit) caste background caused controversy. She was the heroine of Vigathakumaran, directed by J. C. Daniel. She was the first heroine in Malayalam cinema and the first Dalit actress in Indian cinema.
Da Thadiya is a 2012 Malayalam romantic comedy film directed by Aashiq Abu, and starring Sekhar Menon in the lead role along with Nivin Pauly, Sreenath Bhasi and Ann Augustine in the supporting roles. The film was produced by Anto Joseph in association with OPM cinema. DJ Sekhar Menon who had worked as the same in around 500 stages makes his film debut as an actor.
Mahanagaram is a 1992 Malayalam film, directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar and starring Mammootty, Shanthi Krishna, Murali, and Thilakan.
Geethaanjali is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language horror film directed by Priyadarshan and written by Abhilash Nair, with dialogue by Dennis Joseph. Though promoted as spin-off of the 1993 Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu, it was an official remake of the 2007 Thai film Alone which was loosely based on the novel Elephants Can Remember. Mohanlal reprises his role from Manichitrathazhu and Suresh Gopi appears in a cameo role. It also features Nishan, Keerthy Suresh, Swapna Menon, Siddique, Madhu, Innocent, and K. B. Ganesh Kumar. In the film, psychologist Dr. Sunny Joseph (Mohanlal) arrives at a mansion to treat Anjali (Keerthy), who is haunted by her deceased twin sister Geetha (Keerthy), and investigates the paranormal activities. The film was originally planned to be shot in 3D and Auro-3D formats but this was abandoned because the technology was time-consuming and only a few theatres in Kerala were equipped with Auro sound equipment at that time. Principal photography commenced on 6 July 2013 at Thiruvananthapuram and was completed in September. Most of the filming took place at the Chitranjali Studio and in and around Thiruvananthapuram. The cinematographer was Tirru and editing was done by T. S. Suresh. It marked the Malayalam and film debut of Keerthy Suresh, having previously worked in few films as a child artiste. Geethaanjali was released worldwide on 14 November 2013. The film being an official remake of Alone was undisclosed before release, as a result, it was criticised as an imitation of Alone and its source material, the novel Elephants Can Remember and other Indian films adapted from the film or novel. Mohanlal's performance, the cinematography and the graphics received praise.
Magic Lamp is a 2008 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by K. K. Haridas and produced by Cherupuzha Jose. Jayaram, Meena, Sangeetha, Divya Unni, Kalabhavan Mani, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Kottayam Nazeer appear in lead roles. The film had musical score by Ouseppachan.
Meena Shorey was a Pakistani film actress who worked first in Indian cinema and later Pakistani cinema. She appeared in Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi films. Credited in films by her mononym, Meena, her real name was Khurshid Jehan. She started her acting career playing a character role, as Ambhi, Raja of Taxila's sister in Sohrab Modi's Sikandar (1941). Married to her third husband, Roop K. Shorey, by the mid-1940s, she found fame when she acted in her husband's film Ek Thi Larki (1949), opposite actor Motilal. The story was written by I. S. Johar, who also starred in the film. The "foot-tapping" music composed by Vinod became a "huge hit", with Meena becoming an "icon" for the "new liberated" young women. Meena was acclaimed as the "Lara Lappa Girl", from the song of same title in the film. She was one of the first women to be recognised in Indian cinema as a "comedienne of calibre". She was also popularly known as The Droll Queen of Partition as she worked in both in India and Pakistan.
The Great Father is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by Haneef Adeni and jointly produced by Prithviraj Sukumaran, Arya, Santhosh Sivan, and Shaji Nadesan under the banner of August Cinema. It stars Mammootty and Arya with Sneha, Anikha, Malavika Mohanan, Santhosh Keezhattoor, Balaji Sharma and Kalabhavan Shajon in the supporting roles. The original release date of 25 December 2016 was postponed to 30 March 2017. A dubbed version in Hindi, titled Dashing Jigarwala, was also released.
