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.
Yuvan Shankar Raja is an Indian Composer and Singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Western music elements and often credited with having introduced hip hop to the Tamil film and music industry and started the "era of remixes" in Tamil Nadu which included mixed EDM and jazz. He is frequently referred to as the "BGM King" and the "Young Maestro" of Tamil Film Music. Yuvan has won two Filmfare Awards South, five Mirchi Music Awards South, three Vijay Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.
Prashanth Thiagarajan, known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam films. At the peak of his career in the late 1990s, Prashanth was one of the popular actors in South India. He has won a Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. The son of actor-director Thiagarajan, Prashanth began his career at 17 by appearing in the Tamil film Vaigasi Poranthachu (1990) and went on to feature in other films including Balu Mahendra's Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992), R. K. Selvamani's Chembaruthi (1992), K. Rushendra Reddy's Tholi Muddhu (1993), and Mani Ratnam's action-comedy Thiruda Thiruda (1993). Prashanth rose to stardom with Shankar's romantic comedy Jeans (1998) in which he played a dual role alongside Aishwarya Rai. The success of Jeans saw him garner opportunities to work in bigger film projects and in the late 1990s, he featured in a series of breakthrough films such as Kannedhirey Thondrinal (1998), Kaadhal Kavithai (1998), Jodi (1999) and Parthen Rasithen (2000).
Vineeth Sreenivasan is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the elder son of actor and screenwriter Sreenivasan.
Innocent Vareed Thekkethala, known mononymously as Innocent, was an Indian actor, film producer, writer and politician. He predominantly worked in Malayalam films in addition to few Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English films, mostly in comedic roles. In a career spanning more than five decades, he acted in more than 700 films and is considered one of the best comedians in Malayalam cinema. He also appeared in roles with negative shades such as in Mazhavilkavadi, Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu and Ganamela. Innocent had won several awards, including Kerala State Film Award and Kerala Film Critics Award. He served as the Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019) of India representing Chalakudy constituency.
Notebook is a 2006 Indian coming-of-age drama film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Bobby-Sanjay. It is about three students at a boarding school and how they face up to challenges in their lives. The film stars Maria Roy, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Roma Asrani, while Skanda Ashok and Suresh Gopi play supporting roles. The film dealt with the subject of teenage pregnancy.
Prem Kumar Gangai Amaren, better known as Premgi, is an Indian playback singer, composer, songwriter, actor and comedian. The son of composer and director Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and is known for his comical performances in his elder brother Venkat Prabhu's films. His stage name, Premgi, is actually a spelling error, as it is meant to be "Prem G.",. He is also best known for his catchphrases Enna Koduma Sir Idhu ? and Evvalavo pannitom, itha panna mattoma, the former being a modified version of a famous dialogue used by Prabhu in Chandramukhi (2005).
Gopi Sundar C.S. is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries.
Vidyasagar is an Indian composer, musician and singer who works predominantly in the Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu film industries. After working with several composers as assistant and conductor, Vidyasagar made his debut as a film composer in the 1989 Tamil film Poo Manam and nicknamed as Melody King Working for over 225 feature films, he is the recipient of a National Award, multiple State Awards and five Filmfare Awards he frequently work with actor vijay which all of the albums were successful and is widely regarded as one of the finest and most acclaimed composers in the history of Indian Cinema.
Vazhakku Enn 18/9 is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by Balaji Sakthivel, starring newcomers Sri, Urmila Mahanta, Mithun Murali and Manisha Yadav. Pre-production of the film began in 2008, with the filming commencing in 2010 only, following several delays. Cinematography was handled by Vijay Milton, while guitarist R. Prasanna had scored the music.
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'.
Celluloid is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language biographical film co-produced, written and directed by Kamal, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Sreenivasan, Mamta Mohandas and Chandni in the lead roles. The film is a biopic based on the life story of J.C. Daniel, the father of Malayalam cinema, the making of his film Vigathakumaran and the story of Vigathakumaran's heroine P. K. Rosie. The film is particularly based on Life of J. C. Daniel, a biography of J. C. Daniel written by Chelangatt Gopalakrishnan. Filming started in November 2012. The film's online posters were done by a 16-year-old boy Aswin which went viral in social media. It was released in February 2013. The film opened with positive reviews and received seven Kerala State Film Awards including for Best Film and Best Actor (Prithviraj). The movie received many awards and much appreciation with the support of All Lights Film Services (ALFS), a leading film festival consultancy. The film was a blockbuster at the box office.
Telugabbai is a 2013 Indian Telugu language film written and directed by OS Avinash. The film stars Tanish, Remya and Tashu Kaushik. The story is set between two Telugu families who migrated to Malaysia long ago, says the director. The movie has been shot completely in Malaysia. This was the first Telugu film to be shot completely in Malaysia. Mejo Joseph composed the music of the movie. The film was titled Salamath first.
Jeethu Joseph is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He has also worked in a few Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. Jeethu made his directional debut with the 2007 police procedural, Detective. He is best known for creating the Drishyam franchise. Drishyam became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, at its time of release. It was the first Malayalam film to cross the ₹50 crore mark, at the box office. Drishyam 2 was released directly through Amazon Prime Video, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the prequel, it was highly acclaimed and appreciated, worldwide.
Tovino Thomas is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film Prabhuvinte Makkal. His breakthrough roles were in the films ABCD (2013), 7th Day (2014) and Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015). He starred as the titular character in the Netflix superhero film Minnal Murali (2021).
Oraalppokkam is a Malayalam film written and directed by Sanalkumar Sasidharan. It is the first Malayalam movie which has been produced through online crowdfunding program. This is an initiative of Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi, a film society movement based in Thiruvananthapuram. Kazhcha has a history of producing short movies with the financial contribution from film lovers. Oraalppokkam is the fourth venture of Kazhcha. It is claimed that Oraalppokkam will be copyleft after 5 years from the date of release.
Praveen Prem is an Indian actor who began his acting career in 2010 in the Malayalam language film Kadha Thudarunnu. His first major role in Malayalam cinema came through the movie Tournament – Play & Replay directed by Lal in which he played Usman Ali. Prem next appeared as several comedy characters in Malayalam movies, taking on the role of the hero Kiran in the 2013 movie Crocodile Love Story. Prem made his debut in the Tamil film industry in 2014 after director O.S. Ravi cast him as the male lead in the movie Dummy Tappasu.
Jiju Asokan is an Indian film director and Scriptwriter best known for his work in Malayalam cinema.
Shibu is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by duo directors Arjun Prabhakaran and Gokul Ramakrishnan, written by Praneesh, and produced by Kaargo Cinemas. It features Karthik, Anju Kurian, Lukman Avaran, Salim Kumar, and Biju Kuttan in lead roles. Sachin Warrier composed the music for the film. It was released on 19 July 2019. Film is loosely based on a hard-core fan of Actor Dileep.
Thaaram Theertha Koodaram is a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language family romantiic film directed by Gokul Ramakrishnan and written by Arjun Prabhakaran and Gokul Ramakrishnan.
