Malayalam cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language, which is widely spoken in the state of Kerala and Lakshadweep islands of india. Malayalam cinema includes the commercial film industry, sometimes known as Mollywood, as well as independent cinema made in Malayalam.
Sreekumar Achary, better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decades. Widely regarded as the greatest comedian in the history of Malayalam cinema, he is also known for his highly nuanced character roles. He is the son of acclaimed dramaturge and writer, the late Jagathy N. K. Achary.
Sreenivasan is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such as Odaruthammava Aalariyam (1984), Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam (1986), Gandhinagar 2nd Street (1986), Nadodikkattu (1987), Pattanapravesham (1988), Varavelpu (1989), Thalayana Manthram (1990), Sandesam (1991), Midhunam (1993), Mazhayethum Munpe (1995), Azhakiya Ravanan (1996), Oru Maravathoor Kanavu (1998), Udayananu Tharam (2005), Katha Parayumpol (2007), and Njan Prakashan (2018) among which the latter is one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time. He has won two Kerala State Film Awards for Best Screenplay, for Sandesam and Mazhayethum Munpe. He has received numerous accolades including a National Film Award, two Filmfare Award South and seven Kerala State Film Awards.
Madhavan Nair, commonly known by his stage name Madhu, is an Indian actor, director, producer, former college lecturer and former film studio owner, who works in Malayalam cinema and a certain number of Hindi and Tamil films. He was a prominent lead actor during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and has acted in more than 400 films. Madhu has also directed 12 films, produced 15 films and at one time owned the Uma Film Studio. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013 for his contributions towards the arts. He was honored with the J. C. Daniel Award by the Government of Kerala in 2004, for his outstanding contributions to Malayalam films. He is the president of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) Kerala Unit.
Balachandran Chullikkad is an Indian poet, orator, lyricist and actor in Malayalam-language media.
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.
Vinod Sukumaran is an Indian film maker and film editor. He won the National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director for the film Diary of a Housewife in 2001.
Renuka Menon is a former Indian actress who has predominantly appeared in Malayalam and Telugu-language films as well as some Tamil-language and Kannada films.
Madhupal Kannambathu is an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. Madhupal made his acting debut with Kashmeeram in 1994 and his directorial debut with Thalappavu (2008), which was about Naxal Varghese and won several awards in 2008.
Gayatri Das known professionally as Geetu Mohandas is an Indian former actress and director known for her works in Malayalam cinema. In 2013, she directed the socio political film Liar's Dice which has received two National Film Awards, was premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and was chosen by the Government of India as India's entry for the U.S. 87th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, but was not shortlisted or nominated.
T. V. Chandran is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and actor, predominantly working in Malayalam cinema. Born in a Malayali family in Thalassery, Chandran worked as a Reserve Bank of India employee before entering the film industry. He started his film career as an assistant director to P. A. Backer. He also acted the lead role in Backer's highly acclaimed political drama Kabani Nadi Chuvannappol (1975). He made his directorial debut with the unreleased feature Krishnan Kutty (1981), and followed this with the Tamil film Hemavin Kadhalargal (1985). Chandran came into prominence after Alicinte Anveshanam (1989), which was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. This was followed with Ponthan Mada (1993), his most famous film to date. Chandran is most known for his art-house films which have references to history and undertones of politics and feminism. He is also known for his trilogy on 2002 Gujarat riots, consisting of Kathavasheshan (2004), Vilapangalkappuram (2008) and Bhoomiyude Avakashikal (2012). Other highly acclaimed films include Mangamma (1997), Dany (2001) and Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam (2003).
Sheela Celine is an Indian actress and director who appears predominantly in Malayalam cinema. Paired with Prem Nazir, they hold the Guinness World Record for acting in the largest number of films (130) together as heroine and hero. Sheela is a four-time winner of Kerala State Film Award. She came back to acting in 2003 through Manassinakkare after 22 years. In 2005, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Malayalam film Akale. In 2019, Sheela was honoured with the J C Daniel Award, the Kerala government's highest honour for outstanding contribution to Malayalam cinema. She was also one of the highest paid actresses, reportedly paid more than her male counterparts, of her time.
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.
Shyamaprasad is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from Kerala.
Mohan Sithara is an Indian music composer. He received the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Music Director (2009) for the songs in Priyanandan's Soofi Paranja Kadha. Since 1986 he has been an active musician in the Malayalam film industry. His work mixes Western, Classical and folk styles. He has worked with lyricists and poets like O. N. V Kurup, Yusufali Kechery, Sreekumaran Thampi, Rajeev Alunkal, Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, S. Ramesan Nair, Vinayan, Bharanikkavu Sivakumar, Anil Panachooran, Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma, Gireesh Puthenchery, and Bichu Thirumala. Many prominent singers have sung his songs, including K. J. Yesudas, P. Jayachandran, M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra, Sujatha Mohan, Madhu Balakrishnan, G. Venugopal, Shreya Ghoshal, Vidhu Prathap, Afsal, Manjari, Jyotsna Radhakrishnan and Biju Narayanan.
Philomina was an Indian actress, who worked in the Malayalam film industry. She acted in more than 750 films in her career. She played mostly character and comedy roles, besides that of mother and grandmother. She started acting on the stage. This experience stood her in good stead when she was offered her first film role. The character of Anappara Achamma in the 1991 film Godfather, portrayed by her is acknowledged to be one of the most powerful roles ever in Malayalam cinema.
George Onakkoor is an Indian novelist who writes in Malayalam language. He was a Malayalam professor for over three decades at Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum, Kerala.
Akale is a 2004 Malayalam film by Shyamaprasad, inspired by the American classic play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. The movie stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Sheela, Geetu Mohandas and Tom George Kolath in lead roles. The Movie won several awards including, 2 National Film Awards and 6 Kerala state film awards.
Kaviyoor Sivaprasad is a Malayalam film director, screenwriter and visiting faculty of Malayalam University and SJCC. He is the father of actor-director Sidhartha Siva.
Joemon Joshy is a Malayalam film/television actor. He started his film career as a child artist. Joemon made his acting debut in Puraskaram a 1999 Malayalam language children's film. Joemon has played a variety of roles.
