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-News18.
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Malayalam and Hindi cinema. The massive success his movies enjoyed mirrors the collective conscience of the people, especially the elite, of that era, of which the filmmaker is a part of.
Biju Viswanath is an Indian film director, director of photography, film editor and screenwriter. Across various genres, he has made numerous films in different languages, notably, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Irish, Swahili & Urdu.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film Swayamvaram (1972), Gopalakrishnan pioneered the new wave in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s. In a career spanning over five decades, Gopalakrishnan has made only 12 feature films to date. His films are made in the Malayalam language and often depict the society and culture of his native state Kerala. Nearly all of his films premiered at Venice, Cannes and Toronto International Film Festival. Along with Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, Gopalakrishnan is one of the most recognized Indian film directors in world cinema.
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.
Muraleedharan Pillai, popularly known as Murali was an Indian film, stage and television actor and author. He mainly appeared in Malayalam films and a few Tamil films and also many other movies. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Appa Mestry, a communist freedom fighter and professional weaver in the 2002 film Neythukaran. He was known for his powerful portrayal of character roles, lead roles and negative roles, widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in Malayalam cinema.
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Director is an honour presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969. It is given to a film director who has exhibited outstanding direction while working in the Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous non-profit organisation functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs, has been exercising control over the awards. The recipients are decided by an independent jury formed by the academy. They are declared by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the Chief Minister.
B. Lenin born as Bhimsingh Lenin is an Indian film editor, writer and director who works in Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. The son of Tamil film maker A. Bhimsingh, Lenin entered the film industry as an assistant editor and went on to work in numerous projects before making his debut as an independent editor with Mahendran's Uthiripookkal (1979). In the mid 1980s, Lenin started jointly working with his long-time assistant V. T. Vijayan and the duo has so far edited over a hundred films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films, apart from an English film, Eli My Friend.
Sashi Kumar in Kerala, Sashi Kumar spent his school years in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, the bulk of it in Madras. He completed his postgraduation in history from Madras Christian College in 1975.
Nivin Pauly is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is the recipient of several awards including two Kerala State Film Awards and three Filmfare South awards.
Alencier Ley Lopez is an Indian film and theatre actor, who appears in Malayalam films. Lopez made his debut in the 1998 film Daya; and he worked in films like Annayum Rasoolum (2013), Njan Steve Lopez (2013), and Maheshinte Prathikaaram (2016).
Vishak Nair is an Indian actor known for his roles in numerous feature films in Malayalam and Hindi. He made his debut in the 2016 coming-of-age drama Aanandam, which received critical acclaim and made him a household name in Kerala.
Matchbox is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film written by Nikhil Anand and Kenny Peruzzi and directed by Sivaram Mony. Starring Roshan Mathew, Vishak Nair, and Drishya Raghunath. The film was produced by Revathy Kalamandhir. It is the debut film of Sivaram Mony. The film was released on 15 September 2017.
Mahesh Narayanan is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, he has also worked in Tamil and Hindi films. He is a recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director (2017) and Kerala State Film Award for Best Director (2022).
Rahul Riji Nair is an Indian film director, scriptwriter, producer and actor active in the Malayalam film industry. His debut feature film Ottamuri Velicham won 4 awards at the 2017 Kerala State Film Awards, including Best Feature Film. Rahul won the 67th National Film Awards for Best Malayalam Film in 2019 for his third feature film Kalla Nottam.
Veyilmarangal is a Malayalam language drama film written and directed by Bijukumar Damodaran and produced by Baby Mathew Somatheeram. The film starring Indrans and Prakash Bare has M. J. Radhakrishnan as cinematographer. It revolves around a Dalit family that moves to Himachal Pradesh from Kerala for betterment, but harsh conditions still pursue them.
RK DreamWest is an Indian-American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. RK started his creative career in theater and directed several theater productions including the most acclaimed "The Journey" [2009] and "Uthirkaalam" [2013]. RK made his feature film debut with Orange Valley under the banner of Dreamwest Global, followed by Fourth River (2020), that had official selection in several international film festivals and won many accolades.
2018 is a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language survival drama film based on the severe 2018 Kerala floods that devastated Kerala. It is directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, who wrote the screenplay with Akhil P. Dharmajan and is produced by Venu Kunnappilly, C K Padmakumar, and Anto Joseph under the banner of Kavya Film Company in collaboration with P K Prime Production Producers. The film stars Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Narain and Lal with an ensemble supporting cast.
Indhu V. S is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Malayalam films. She directed 19(1)(a). The film marks Vijay Sethupathi's debut in a character role in Malayalam and his second Malayalam film after Maarconi Mathaai. The film released directly on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar on 29 July 2022. The film won the International Federation of Film Critics for the best Malayalam film of a debut director at the International Film Festival of Kerala in 2022.
Thimiram is a 2009 Malayalam Language film by Shivaram Mony staring G. Suresh Kumar, Ameya Mathew and Meera Nair. The film was screened at 18th Chennai International Film Festival. The film is available to stream on Neestream. The film companion gave positive reviews about the film, calling it "A well written film about how society normalizes male chauvism"
