The music of Kerala has a complex history distinct from Malayalam poetry, though much of it is poetry-driven. Kerala has a rich tradition in Carnatic music. Songs have been a significant part of early Malayalam literature, which dates back to the 9th century CE. The significance of music in Kerala's culture is evident from the fact that musical poetry in the Malayalam language developed long before prose. As music evolved in the region, various branches emerged from it.
Biju Menon is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil and Telugu film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film Puthran. In a career spanning over two decades, he has appeared in over 150 films, and has won one National film award for Best Supporting Actor, three Kerala State Film Awards including one best actor, two Filmfare Awards South and nine Asianet Film Awards. He got the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor in 2021 for the film Aarkkariyam.
Parinayam is a Malayalam language period drama film, directed by Hariharan and written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. The key characters are played by Mohini, Manoj K. Jayan and Vineeth. The film also has a cast of character artists including Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Sukumari, Jagannatha Varma, Valsala Menon, Bindu Panicker, Bahadoor, and Shanthi Krishna.
Jyotsna Radhakrishnan is an Indian playback singer. She predominantly works in 12 languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She has sung more than 1000 songs. She is based in Thrissur, Kerala. Jyotsna gained wider recognition for singing popular songs such as “Karuppinazhaku” from Swapnakoodu (2003), “Themma Themma Themmadikkatte” from Rain Rain Come Again (2004) and "Raftara" from Lucifer (2019).
Asha G. Menon is a well-known Malayalam film playback singer, who is widely remembered for her first song 'Aaradyam Parayum' from the film 'Mazha' (2000). At the age of 15, she won the Kerala State Award for the Best Female Playback Singer in 2001. The song Aaradyam Parayum in the film Mazha directed by Lenin Rajendran starring Biju Menon and Samyuktha Varma won the award. She is also popular as a TV presenter who anchored the music show on Asianet - 'Hrudayaragam' for many years. Today she is a music teacher at Indian High School, Oud Metha Campus in Dubai.
Porayath Leela was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist, and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia, Gujarati, Marati. and also Sinhale. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers v.Dakshinamoorthy, MS Baburaj, G Devarajan, ghantasala, MS Viswanathan, K. Raghavan, Br Lakshmanan, LPR Varma, BA chithambara athletes, AT ummer, MK Arjun,Johnson, ouseppachan, ilaiyaraja, and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and Ghantalasa over the years. Leela is known for her sweet and melodious voice that she named Ganamani. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006. She made her debut as a playback singer in the 1948 Tamil film Kangkanam.
Janakan (transl. Father) is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by N. R. Sanjeev and written by S. N. Swami, starring Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi. The music was composed by M. Jayachandran. It was released on 8 April 2010 in Kerala and was distributed by Maxlab Entertainments. Janakan is credited as the 200th film appearance of Suresh Gopi. The film won the Kerala state Film Award for Best playback singer - Female for Rajalakshmy for the song "Olichirunne".
Mazha (transl. Rain) is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Lenin Rajendran based on the short story Nashtappetta Neelambari by Madhavikkutty. It stars Biju Menon, Samyuktha Varma, and Lal. The music was composed by Ravindran. The film won five Kerala State Film Awards, a National Film Award, and a South Filmfare Award.
Pranayavarnangal is a Malayalam romantic film released in 1998. Directed by Sibi Malayil, the script was written by Jayaraman Kadambat and Sachidanandan Puzhankara. Suresh Gopi, Manju Warrier, Divya Unni and Biju Menon appeared in leading roles.
Mridula Varier is a South Indian playback singer from Koyilandy, Kerala. She started her career as a playback singer in the Malayalam movie Big B in 2007. She has also recorded songs for Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. She has won the prestigious Kerala State Award in 2023 and Special Jury Award in 2014.
Action Hero Biju is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language police procedural comedy film directed by Abrid Shine. The film stars Nivin Pauly, Anu Emmanuel, Saiju Kurup, Joju George, Alexander Prasanth, Kalabhavan Prajod, Rony David and Sohan Seenulal. Nivin jointly produced the film with Abrid Shine and Shibu Thekkumpuram. Jerry Amaldev composed the original songs, while Rajesh Murugesan composed score. Principal photography began in May 2015 and ended in October 2015.
K. R. Sachidanandan, professionally credited as Sachy, was an Indian screenwriter, director, and film producer who worked in the Malayalam film industry. Initially, he co-wrote films with Sethu as a writer duo known as Sachi-Sethu, their works include Chocolate (2007), Robinhood (2009), Makeup Man (2011) and Seniors (2012). He made his independent debut as a screenwriter with the 2012 film Run Baby Run and his directorial debut with Anarkali (2015).
Jakes Bejoy is an Indian film score composer, music producer, and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Angels (2014) was his debut film as a music director.
Gowri Nandha is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu film industries. She was noted for her role in the 2020 movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
Ayyappanum Koshiyum, also known as AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum, is a 2020 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film written and directed by Sachy. Produced by Ranjith and P. M. Sasidharan, the film stars Biju Menon and Prithviraj Sukumaran.
Pazhani Swami is one of the master performers in Irula dance of Irula tribal community and an actor in Malayalam movie industry. He is the leader of Azad Kala Sangham, a prominent troupe from Attappadi which performs Irula dance of tribal community of Kerala. One of this troupe member Nanjiyamma’s song 'Kalakkatha' in Malayalam movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum gone viral.
Sangeetha Sajith was an Indian playback singer, known for her works in the South Indian film industry. She has sung over 200 songs across Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Sangeetha got her breakthrough with the song Thaneerai Kaadhalikum from the 1996 Tamil film Mr Romeo, composed by AR Rahman.
The 44th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards, honouring the best Malayalam films released in 2020, were announced in September 2021.
Ayyappanum Koshiyum is the soundtrack to the 2020 film of the same name directed by Sachy starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon. The film's soundtrack featured four songs composed by Jakes Bejoy, with lyrics written by B. K. Harinarayanan, Rafeeq Ahamed and Nanjiyamma. The soundtrack was released by Manorama Music on 10 February 2020.
