Onam is an annual Indian harvest festival celebrated predominantly by the people of Kerala. A major annual event for Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events.
Mohanlal Viswanathan, known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada-language films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. Mohanlal's contributions to the Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. Mohanlal was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN-News18.
Kesavan Venugopal, better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Malayalam and also in Tamil in a career spanning nearly five decades. He wrote screenplays and directed one film. Nedumudi Venu won three National Film Awards and six Kerala State Film Awards for his various performances.
The Malayali people are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predominantly native speakers of the Malayalam language, one of the six Classical languages in India. The state of Kerala was created in 1956 through the States Reorganisation Act. Prior to that, since the 1800s existed the Kingdom of Cochin, the Kingdom of Travancore, Malabar District, and South Canara of the British India. The Malabar District was annexed by the British through the Third Mysore War (1790–92) from Tipu Sultan. Before that, the Malabar District was under various kingdoms including the Zamorins of Calicut, Kingdom of Tanur, Arakkal kingdom, Kolathunadu, Valluvanad, and Palakkad Rajas.
Manju Warrier is an Indian actress, producer, classical dancer and playback singer who primarily appears in Malayalam language films. She is the recipient of several awards. She is regarded as one of the most prolific actresses in Malayalam cinema.
The culture of Kerala has developed over the past millennia, influences from other parts of India and abroad. It is defined by its antiquity and the organic continuity sustained by the Malayali people. Modern Kerala society took shape owing to migrations from different parts of India and abroad throughout Classical Antiquity.
Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing credits in few films. Ponnamma is a four-time Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress winner. Her sister Kaviyoor Renuka was also an actress. Often called as the Mother to all actors, she has acted as mother of almost all actors in her career panning over decades. At the age of 20, she played the mother of Sathyan and Madhu in the 1965 movie Thommente Makkal. She gained critical acclaim for acting as the mother of the actor Mohanlal.
Oachira or Ochira is an ancient temple town located 32 km away from Kollam city in Karunagappally taluk, Kollam district in Kerala, India.
Santhosh George Kulangara is an Indian television producer, director, broadcaster, publisher, and traveler. He is the founder and managing director of Safari TV, a channel dedicated to travel and history-based programmes. Kulangara also serves as the head of Labour India Publications, an educational publisher based in Marangattupilly. As of 2021, Kulangara had travelled to more than 130 countries and his journeys are telecast through Sancharam, the first travel documentary in Malayalam.
K. Surendran, better known by his stage name Indrans, is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the comedy movie CID Unnikrishnan B.A., B.Ed. Indrans was popular for his comedy roles in the 1990s and 2000s.
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, and businessman who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in more than 150 films and has won several awards, including four Kerala State Film Awards and one Filmfare Awards South.
Akkarakkaazhchakal is a Malayalam language Indian sitcom that aired on Kairali TV from 2008 to 2010. The series consisted of fifty episodes which chronicled the lives of a middle-class Malayali family settled in the United States. The show was created by Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan and starred relative newcomers as the leads.
Punathil Kunjabdulla was an Indian writer from Kerala. A medical doctor by profession, Kunjabdulla was a practitioner of the avant-garde in Malayalam literature. His work includes more than 45 books, including 7 novels, 15 short story collections, memoirs, an autobiography and travelogues. His work Smarakasilakal won the Central and State Akademi Awards.
1921 is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language war film written by T. Damodaran and directed by I. V. Sasi. The film has an ensemble cast including Mammootty, Madhu, Suresh Gopi, T. G. Ravi, Seema, Urvashi and Mukesh. Set during the 1921–22 Mappila Uprising in Madras Presidency, it tells the fictional story of Khader, a World War I veteran, who joins with the Mappila rebels during the Uprising.
Bijibal Maniyil is an award-winning Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films, documentaries, short films and television commercials. He has composed for more than 150 feature films, several documentaries and television commercials.
Subhash Chandran born in Kerala, India, is a Malayalam novelist, short story writer and journalist best known for the 2010 novel Manushyanu Oru Aamukham. His stories "Vadhakramam", "Sanmargam", "Parudeesa Nashtam" and "Gotham" have been adapted into films. He is the only writer to get Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for both his debut story collection (2001) and debut novel (2011).
Mohamallika Pillai, better known as Mallika Sukumaran is an Indian actress and businesswoman, known for her works in Malayalam cinema. She debuted in 1974 with the Malayalam film Utharayanam by G. Aravindan. Since then, she has appeared in over 60 films. She won the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress for her role in the 1974 film Swapnadanam.
Onathallu, also known as Kayyāmkali or Avittathallu is an Indian martial dance and a semi-contact combat sport performed in Kerala during the festival of Onam. In some places, it takes the form of a choreographed sparring, while in some other places, it is a combat sport with actual sparring.
Nivin Pauly is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is a recipient of several awards including two Kerala State Film Awards and three Filmfare South awards. Nivin auditioned for and was cast in one of the main roles in Vineeth Sreenivasan's directorial debut Malarvaadi Arts Club in 2009, which was produced by actor Dileep. Nivin got his breakthrough with his lead role in the romantic film Thattathin Marayathu (2012), which was also directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan.
Maheshinte Prathikaaram is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by Dileesh Pothan, in his directorial debut and produced by Aashiq Abu. The film stars Fahadh Faasil in the titular role alongside a supporting cast including Aparna Balamurali, Anusree, Alencier Ley Lopez and Soubin Shahir. Written by Syam Pushkaran, the story is based on an incident in the life of Thampan Purushan from Thuravoor, Cherthala. Shyju Khalid was the film's cinematographer, and the music was composed by Bijibal.
