Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail, known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and English-language productions. In a career spanning five decades, he has appeared in more than 420 films, predominantly in lead roles. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards, eleven Kerala State Film Awards, eleven Kerala Film Critics Awards and fifteen Filmfare Awards South. He was honored with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India in 1998, for his contributions to cinema. He was also honored with the Kerala Prabha Award by the Government of Kerala in 2022.
John Abraham was an Indian filmmaker, short story writer and screenwriter who worked mainly in Malayalam cinema. His film Amma Ariyan (1986) was the only South Indian feature film to make the list of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time by British Film Institute. Agraharathil Kazhuthai was listed among the "100 Greatest Indian Films" of all time by IBN Live's 2013 poll.
E. P. P. Sukumaran Nair, known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s. He was considered one of the superstar trios of Malayalam cinema during the late 1970s and early 1980s along with Soman and Jayan.
Mukesh Madhavan, known mononymously as Mukesh, is an Indian actor, film producer, television presenter, and politician who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil-language films. In a film career spanning four decades, he has acted in over 275 Malayalam films.
Jayasurya is an Indian actor, distributor, sponsor, model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist who works in Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Award, three Kerala State Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South for acting and Best Actor at the Cincinnati Film Festival held in Cincinnati, US. Jayasurya has also appeared in a few Tamil films.
Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, film producer and a playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. She has won several accolades including two Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2006 and for Best Actress in Malayalam in 2010 and also won Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress in 2010. She has launched her own film production company under the banner Mamta Mohandas Productions.
Kunnisseri Veettil Raman Mani, better known by his stage name Kalabhavan Mani, was an Indian actor and singer. Mani started his career as a mimicry artist with the Kalabhavan comedy troupe. He had starred in over 250 films, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu films, and was renowned for his humorous characters and villain roles.
Indrajith Sukumaran is an Indian actor and playback singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of actor Prithviraj Sukumaran.
T. G. Vinayakumar, professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. He has done 40 Malayalam movies, 4 Tamil movies and one Telugu movie.
Shaji Kailas is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Malayalam cinema. Shaji got a breakthrough with the comedy film Dr. Pasupathy (1990).
Twenty:20 is a 2008 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film written by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas, directed by Joshiy, produced and distributed by Dileep through Graand Production and Manjunatha Release. The film stars Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram and Dileep. The film was produced on behalf of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) as a fundraiser to financially support actors who are struggling in the Malayalam cinema. All the actors in AMMA worked without payment in order to raise funds for their welfare schemes.
Kuselan is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language dramedy film directed by P. Vasu. An official remake of the Malayalam film Kadha Parayumbol (2007), it was produced by Pushpa Kandaswamy, Aswani Dutt and G. P. Vijayakumar in two languages. Kuselan stars Rajinikanth in an extended guest appearance with Pasupathy and Meena. It also stars Vadivelu and Livingston in supporting roles. The film was simultaneously made in Telugu as Kathanayakudu.
Renji Panicker is an Indian actor, scriptwriter, director, film producer, and journalist best known for his Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with Bharatchandran IPS in 2005.
Traffic is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language road action thriller film written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay and directed by Rajesh Pillai. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Sreenivasan, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Rahman, Anoop Menon, Sandhya, Roma, Remya Nambeesan, Namitha Pramod, Lena, Jose Prakash and Krishna. The film has its narrative in a hyperlink format. The film opened on 7 January 2011, to a positive reception. A multi-narrative thriller that intertwines multiple stories around one particular incident, Traffic is inspired from an actual event that happened in Chennai. Owing to its critical and commercial success, Traffic was remade into Tamil as Chennaiyil Oru Naal, in Kannada as Crazy Star and is also remade in Hindi, with the same name. This was also the last film of the veteran actor Jose Prakash. The film has a cult status.
Nivin Pauly is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is the recipient of two Kerala State Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, two Kerala Film Critics Association Awards, and six SIIMA Awards. He auditioned for and was cast in one of the main roles in Vineeth Sreenivasan's directorial debut, Malarvaadi Arts Club, in 2009 and got his breakthrough in the romantic film Thattathin Marayathu (2012).
Lijo Jose Pellissery is an Indian filmmaker and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. His best works include Amen (2013), Angamaly Diaries (2017), Ee.Ma.Yau. (2018), Jallikattu (2019), Churuli (2021), and Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023).
Ebbey Abraham, better known by his stage name Vysakh, is an Indian film director who works in Malayalam films and is known for several commercially successful films like Pokkiri Raja, Seniors, Mallu Singh, Pulimurugan and Madhura raja. He began his career as a television anchor and later as an associate director to Joshiy and Johny Antony. He debuted as an independent director in 2010 with Pokkiri Raja starring Mammootty and Prithviraj Sukumaran. In 2016, his directorial Pulimurugan starring Mohanlal and Jagapathi Babu became the first Malayalam film to gross around ₹100 crore at the box office.
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Priyadarshan is mostly known for directing comedy films but has directed a few non-comical films such as a historical epic film based around freedom fighters in India titled Kaalapani and his epic period drama Kancheevaram. In a career spanning almost three decades, Priyadarshan has directed 96 films in several Indian languages, predominantly Malayalam and Hindi, besides eight in Tamil, and two in Telugu. Though he began his career in Malayalam cinema in 1984, Priyadarshan was mainly active in Hindi cinema for 2001–2010. In 2013, he announced Rangrezz would be his last Hindi film for a short period; and focused on making more Malayalam films.
Oppam (transl. Along) is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by Priyadarshan from a story by Govind Vijayan. The film, produced by Antony Perumbavoor for Aashirvad Cinemas, stars Mohanlal and Samuthirakani. The songs were composed by the group 4 Musics, while the score was composed by Ron Ethan Yohann. The cinematography and editing were handled by N. K. Ekambaram and M. S. Ayyappan Nair and the film is influenced by the basic concept of the 2011 Korean film Blind and the English film Cape Fear which itself inspired from a novel.
Srikant Murali is an Indian actor, director and ad filmmaker. He has acted in Malayalam films such as Home (2021), Aby (2017), Virus (2019) and Action Hero Biju (2016). As an ad filmmaker Srikant has created material in various Indian languages.
