Mohanlal Viswanathan is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada 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.
Palappurathu Keshavan Surendranatha Thilakan was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearances and is considered to be one of the greatest actors in Indian Cinema.
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director and screenwriter. In a career spanning almost three decades, Priyadarshan has directed over 90 films in several Indian languages, predominantly Malayalam and Hindi, besides eight in Tamil, and two in Telugu. He is recipient of several accolades including three National Film Awards and Kerala State Film Awards. In 2012, the Government of India honoured him the Padma Shri, country's fourth highest civilian award.
Navya Nair is an Indian actress who has appeared predominantly in Malayalam cinema along with a few Kannada and Tamil language films.
Ranjith Balakrishnan is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. Ranjith made his directorial debut in 2001 with Ravanaprabhu, the sequel to Devaasuram. He has won three National Film Awards, including one for his film Spirit, which received the National Award for Best Film on Social Issues. His films Thirakkatha and Indian Rupee won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam in 2008 and 2011, respectively. He has also received six Kerala State Film Awards.
Deepak Devraj Komath, better known as Deepak Dev, is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema. He started his career in the film Industry through the movie Chronic Bachelor (2003) directed by Siddique. Deepak is also a former member of the Kochi based Indian rock band Motherjane.
Salim Kumar is an Indian actor, comedian, director and writer in Malayalam cinema. Mostly known for his comic and comedy roles, Salim Kumar is considered one of the best and most prominent comedians in the history of Malayalam cinema.
Hallo is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film written and directed by the Rafi Mecartin duo. It stars Mohanlal and Parvathy Melton(in her Malayalam debut), with Jagathy Sreekumar, Siddique, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, Madhu, and Samvrutha Sunil in important roles. The music was composed by Alex Paul. The film received positive reviews from critics. Critics praised Mohanlal"s performance. The film was also a major commercial success. It was remade in Telugu as Naa Style Veru (2009) and in Kannada as Manjunatha BA LLB (2012). The plot of the movie was reported to have been partially borrowed from the 2004 movie Cellular.
M. P. Michael, better known by his stage name Lal, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, producer and distributor who predominantly works in Malayalam and Tamil films and in a few Telugu films. Lal has won several awards, including a National Film Award – Special Mention for acting (2012), two Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor, and a Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam (2008). He is the owner of Lal Media Arts, a post-production studio.
Love In Singapore is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by Rafi Mecartin, starring Mammootty and Jayasurya in lead role. The film marks the debut of Navneet Kaur in Malayalam cinema.
Punjabi House is a 1998 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film written and directed by Rafi Mecartin. It stars Dileep and Harisree Ashokan as Unni and Ramanan with Mohini, Jomol, Lal, Cochin Haneefa, Thilakan, Janardhanan and N. F. Varghese in other pivotal roles. It revolves around Unni, a debt-ridden entrepreneur who attempts suicide by jumping into the sea so that his family can use the insurance money to repay his debts. However, he survives and is rescued by two debt ridden fisherman, who keep him as a servant in the house of a Punjabi family of moneylenders, so that they can repay the sum at a later time.
Rafi and Mecartin are a screenwriter and director duo best known for comedy films in Malayalam cinema. Raffi's younger brother Shafi is also a well-known film director. Raffi is also the nephew of director Siddique from the Siddique–Lal duo. He has scripted and directed successful films such as Puthukkottayile Puthumanavalan (1995), Superman (1997), Punjabi House (1998), Thenkasipattanam (2000), Chathikkatha Chanthu (2004), Pandippada (2005), and Hallo (2007). The duo has also written the scripts for Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava (1995), Aadyathe Kanmani (1995), Dilliwala Rajakumaran (1996), Kusruthi Kuruppu (1998), One Man Show (2001), Thilakkam (2003), and Mayavi (2007) among others, for other directors.
One Man Show is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Shafi and written by the Rafi Mecartin duo. It stars Jayaram, Mukesh, Samyuktha Varma, Lal, Manya, Kalabhavan Mani and Narendra Prasad. The story unfurls itself in the course of a TV game show. This film was a huge commercial success at the box office. The film was remade in Tamil as Kalakkura Chandru (2007).
China Town is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film written and directed by the Rafi Mecartin duo and produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the company Aashirvad Cinemas. The film stars Mohanlal in dual role as a father and son, with Jayaram, Dileep and Suraj Venjaramoodu in lead roles, while Kavya Madhavan, Poonam Bajwa, Dipa Shah, Pradeep Rawat, Captain Raju, Shanavas and Shankar plays the pivotal roles. Jagathi Sreekumar makes a cameo appearance. The film is loosely based on The Hangover.
Kalabhavan, also known as Cochin Kalabhavan, is a centre for learning performing arts in Kochi, India. Kalabhavan is notable and known for being the first organised performing mimicry group in Kerala and which popularised the art of mimicry in the state of Kerala. Ever since its founding, Kalabhavan has served as a grooming centre for acting aspirants. Hence, Kalabhavan has contributed numerous actors as well as film directors to Malayalam cinema.
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.
Nandalal Krishnamoorthy, better known by his stage name Nandu, is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam, and a few Hindi and Tamil films. He has been in the industry for more than 30 years and is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal's Spirit, directed by Ranjith. He was also seen in many Priyadarsan films. He received SIIMA award for best supporting actor, for the movie Spirit.
Mamas Ramachandran, better known as Mamas, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and caricaturist. He made his directorial debut in 2010 with Paappi Appacha.
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.
Children's Park is a 2019 Indian Malayalam comedy film. It was directed by Shafi and written by Rafi. The film stars Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Sharaf U Dheen, Dhruvan, Manasa Radhakrishnan, Gayathri Suresh and Sowmya Menon. It was produced by Roopesh Omana and Milan Jaleel under Cochin Films.
