1950s

Malayalam cinema has always taken its themes from relevant social issues and has been interwoven with material from literature, drama, and politics since its inception. One such film, Jeevitha Nouka (1951), was a musical drama which spoke about the problems in a joint family. This movie became very popular and was probably the first "super hit" of Malayalam cinema. However, this movie's success was bittersweet. Although its success accelerated Malayalam movie-making, films that were produced after Jeevitha Nouka closely mimicked its structure, hoping to find some sort of "success formula", thus hampering creativity for a long time. Nevertheless, this time was hailed as "the period of giants" in Malayalam film industry, due to the work of film stars Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, Sathyan, Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair and Prem Nazir.

In 1954, the film Neelakuyil captured national interest by winning the President's silver medal. Scripted by the well-known Malayalam novelist Uroob, and directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat, it is often considered the first authentic Malayali film. Another notable production was Newspaper Boy (1955), which contained elements of Italian neorealism. This film is notable as the product of a group of amateur college filmmakers. It told the story of a printing press employee and his family being stricken with extreme poverty. The music took a turn away from the trend of copying Tamil and Hindi song. The poets Tirunainaarkurichy Madhavan Nair - Thirunaiyarkurichy, P Bhaskaran, ONV kurup, VR varma, rose up in this period as film lyricists. Brother Lakshmanan, Dakshinamurty, K Raghavan, Paravoor devarajan, MS Baburaj, Pukhenthey Velappan Nair etc. started distinct style Malayalam music. Kamukara Purushotamman, Mehboob, Kozhikode Abdul Kader, AM Raja, Sreenivas, KP Udayabhanu, Shanta P Nair, Leela, Janaki, Shusheela, Vasantha, Renuka, Jikki etc. were the Singer from the 50s. The drama artist and school teacher Muthukulam Ragavhan Pilla lend many of his skills to cinema in this period.

Origins (1907-1950)

The first cinema hall in Kerala, with a manually operated film projector, was opened in Thrissur by Jose Kattookkaran in 1907. In 1913, the first permanent theatre in Kerala was established in Ollur, Thrissur city by Jose and was called the Jose Electrical Bioscope now known as Jose Theatre in Thrissur city. The first film to be made in Malayalam was Vigathakumaran. Production started in 1928, and it was released in Trivandrum Capitol Theatre on 23 October 1930. It was produced and directed by J. C. Daniel, a businessman with no prior film experience, who is credited as the father of Malayalam cinema. Daniel founded the first film studio, The Travancore National Pictures Limited, in Kerala. A second film, Marthanda Varma, based on a novel by C. V. Raman Pillai, was produced by R. Sundar Raj in 1933. However, after only being shown for four days, the film prints were confiscated due to a legal battle over copyright.

The first talkie in Malayalam was Balan, released in 1938. It was directed by S. Nottani with a screenplay and songs written by Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai. It was produced at Chennai (then Madras) in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Balan was followed by Gnanambika in 1940 which was directed by S. Notani. Then Prahlada came in 1941 directed by K. Subramoniam of Madras and featuring Guru Gopinath and Thankamani Gopinath. Until 1947 Malayalam films were made by Tamil producers. Artist P. J. Cherian was the first Malayali producer to venture into this field and the trend then changed. He Produced Nirmala in 1948 with Joseph Cherian, Baby Joseph his son and daughter-in-law in the lead roles as hero and heroin; and many other family members in other roles breaking the taboo that noble family people do not take up acting. Thus 'Nirmala' became the first film produced by a Malayali setting many firsts for introducing play-back singing, cinema with a social theme where the entire family could sit together and watch it. Artist P.J. Cherian was the first cinema producer to explore the possibility of music and songs in cinema; and thus became the pioneer to introduce play-back singing in cinema. The lyrics of the film penned by the legendary Malayalam poet G.Shankara Kurup became so popular that song-dance sequences became essential ingredients of Malayalam cinema. Vellinakshatram (1949) was the first movie to be made in Kerala and it took shape at the Udaya Studios at Alleppey.

History of Malayalam cinema

Active Malayalam film production did not take place until the second half of the 20th century: there were only two silent films, and three Malayalam-language films before 1947.The film industry are also known as molly wood. With support from the Kerala state government production climbed from around 6 a year in the 1950s, through 30 a year in the 60s, 40 a year in the 70s, to 127 films in the year 1980.

Malayalam Cinema

Malayalam cinema is the Indian film industry based in Kerala, India, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language.

At first (beginning in the 1920s), the Malayalam film industry was based in Trivandrum. Although the film industry started to develop and flourish only by the late-1940s. Later, the industry shifted to Chennai (formerly Madras), which then was the capital of the South Indian film industry. By the end of 1980s, the Malayalam film industry returned and established itself in Kerala. Several media sources describe Kochi as the hub of the film industry, while the Kerala government publications and government sponsored Kinfra organization states Thiruvananthapuram is the centre.

The first 3D film produced in India, My Dear Kuttichathan (1984), was made in Malayalam. The first Cinemascope film produced in Malayalam was Thacholi Ambu (1978). The world's first film with just one actor in the star cast was the Malayalam film The Guard (2001).

Rajiv Anchal's Guru (1997) and Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu (2011) are the only Malayalam films to be sent by India as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards. Films such as Piravi, Swaham, Marana Simhasanam, Chemmeen, Mathilukal and Vanaprastham were also screened and won awards at several international film festivals.