Malabar Gopalan Sreekumar, better known as M.G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 25000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Sanskrit. He owns a music company named KMG Musics and the Saregama School of Music in Thiruvananthapuram. Sreekumar has won several awards, including two National Film Awards, three Kerala State Film Awards and 5 Filmfare Awards South. He was also honoured with the Harivarasanam Award by the Government of Kerala in 2016. His career as a singer spans over 44 years.
Madhavan Raveendran, , fondly known as Raveendran Master, was a popular South Indian music composer and playback singer from Kerala. He composed songs for more than 150 films primarily for the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He also composed a few albums, including Vasantha Geethangal, Ponnonatharangini and Rithugeethangal. Raveendran successfully composed melodies based on Hindustani Ragas also.
Amrita TV is an Indian Malayalam language Free-to-air general Entertainment television channel owned by Mata Amritanandamayi Math. It was launched in 2005.
Karthik is an Indian Playback singer and Composer. Karthik started his professional singing career as a backing vocalist and has since been working as a playback singer. He has sung more than 1000 songs in 10 Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Marathi and Hindi.
Gayatri Asokan is a playback singer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. She started her playback career with the song "Deena Dayalo Rama" for the film Arayannagalude Veedu for music director Raveendran. "Enthe Nee Kanna" for Sasneham Sumitra won her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer in 2003. Her other songs include "Chanjadi Adi" from Makalkku, "Thumbikkinnaram" from Naran and "Pularumo" from Ritu.
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 Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress in 2010. She has launched her own film production company under the banner Mamta Mohandas Productions.
Alphons Joseph is an Indian music director and playback singer who works in Malayalam film industry. He debuted with 2003 movie Vellithira. Alphons is also noted for singing "Aaromale" from the film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, which was composed by A. R. Rahman.
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, Shreya Ghoshal, Sujatha Mohan, Madhu Balakrishnan, G. Venugopal, Vidhu Prathap, Afsal, Manjari, Jyotsna Radhakrishnan, and Biju Narayanan.
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.
Porayath Leela was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist, and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia, Gujarati, Marati. and also Sinhale. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers v.Dakshinamoorthy, MS Baburaj, G Devarajan, ghantasala, MS Viswanathan, K. Raghavan, Br Lakshmanan, LPR Varma, BA chithambara athletes, AT ummer, MK Arjun,Johnson, ouseppachan, ilaiyaraja, and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and Ghantalasa over the years. Leela is known for her sweet and melodious voice that she named Ganamani. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006. She made her debut as a playback singer in the 1948 Tamil film Kangkanam.
Aalaap Raju is a playback singer and a bass guitar player from Chennai, India. His rendition of Enamo Aedho from the movie Ko composed by Harris Jayaraj topped the music charts for several months in 2011 and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer – 2011. He has sung for music directors like Harris Jayaraj, Thaman, G.V Prakash, Deepak Dev, D.Imman, Sreekanth Deva and many more. His other noticeable songs include Vaaya moodi summa iru da from Mugamoodi, Engeyum Kadhal from Engeyum Kadhal, Endhan Kann Munnae from Nanban, Kadhal Oru Butterfly and Akila Akila from Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, Anjana Anjana from Vandhan Vendran, Kuthu Kuthu from Ayyanar, Nenjodu Cherthu from Yuvvh, Theeyae Theeyae from Maattrraan, Jal Jal Osai from Manam Kothi Paravai, and Maya Bazaar from Ennai Arindhaal.
Kaleeshwari Devi better known by her stage name Saleema is an Indian actress who predominantly acts in Malayalam films. She is best known for her portrayal of Ammini in Aranyakam and Lakshmi in Nakhakshathangal. She is the daughter of Telugu actress Girija. According to her daughter Saleema, Girija died on 5 September 1995.
Mridula Varier is a South Indian playback singer from Koyilandy, Kerala. She started her career as a playback singer in the Malayalam movie Big B in 2007. She has also recorded songs for Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. She has won the prestigious Kerala State Award in 2023 and Special Jury Award in 2014.
Siddharth Menon is an Indian playback singer, actor, co-founder and vocalist of Thaikkudam Bridge music band. He has rendered some film songs but is most popular for his band Thaikkudam Bridge. His rendition of "Mandaracheppundo" from the film Dasharatham for a musical show Music Mojo in the Malayalam channel Kappa TV topped the music charts.
Latha Raju is an Indian film singer and actress in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s. Some of her popular Malayalam songs are "Pinchu Hridayam Devalayam" and "Manjakkilee Swarnakkilee Mayilppeelikkaattile Varnakkilee" from the film Sethubandhanam, "Ividuthe Chechikkinnale" and "Aaluvaappuzhakkakkareyoru Ponnambalam". She has also rendered songs in Tamil, Kannada and Tulu. She has dubbed for famous actresses like Suhasini, Shobhana, late Shobha and many other leading actresses in some of the landmark films in Malayalam. She has won Kerala Film Critics Award in 2003 for lifetime achievement. The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awarded her the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award in 2009 for contributions to Malayalam light music. In 2019 Kerala Government honoured her for her outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema and music.
Ratheesh Kumar is an Indian playback singer from Kerala. He started his career as a playback singer in the Malayalam movie Ivar Vivahitharayal in 2009. He has also recorded songs for Malayalam Albums and Dramas. He was the finalist of the reality show Amrita TV Super Star Global, a musical talent hunt show hosted by Amrita TV.
Anurakthi is a Sanskrit film made in Kerala, India. The film is about the Indian art Koodiyattom. This is the first Sanskrit film to have a song. The song was shot in 3D, making the film the first 3D Sanskrit film. The film was screened at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa in 2017. The film also won the special jury award for best regional film at the 5th Rajasthan International Film Festival (RIFF), Jaipur in 2018.
Sanskrit cinema is a part of Indian cinema with only 15 films made since 1983, and there is no separate industry for Sanskrit films.
Munthiri Monchan: Oru Thavala Paranja Kadha is a 2019 Indian cinema Malayalam film directed by debutant director Vijith Nambiar for producer P. K. Ashokan. The film, a Movie Factory presentation stars Manesh Krishnan, Gopika Anil, Salim Kumar, Innocent, Devan and Saleema with several others. The film unites actors Devan and Saleema after a gap of 31 years as the pair's last film was Aranyakam, directed by Hariharan, written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair.
