Malayalam cinema's directors have
included J. C. Daniel,
the director and producer
of the first Malayalam film, Vigathakumaran (1928). Unlike other Indian films at that time, most of
which were films based on the puranas, he chose to base his film on a social theme. Though the
film failed commercially, he paved way for the Malayalam film industry and is
widely considered the father of Malayalam cinema. Till the 1950s,
Malayalam film didn't see many talented film directors. The milestone film Neelakkuyil (1954), directed by Ramu
Karyat and P.
Bhaskaran, shed a lot of limelight over its
directors.Ramu Karyat
went on to become a celebrated director in the 1960s and 1970s. P.
Bhaskaran also directed a few acclaimed films
in the 1960s. The cameraman of Neelakkuyil, A. Vincent,
also became a noted director of the 1960s and 1970s. Another noted director of
the 1950s was P. Ramadas, the director of the neorealistic film Newspaper Boy
(1955).
In the 1970s, the Malayalam film
industry saw the rise of film societies. It triggered a new genre
of films known as "parallel
cinema". The main driving forces of the movement, who gave priority to
serious cinema, were Adoor Gopalakrishnan and G.
Aravindan. People like John Abraham
and P. A. Backer
gave a new dimension to Malayalam cinema through their political themes. The
later 1970s witnessed the emergence of another stream of Malayalam films, known
as "middle-stream cinema", which seamlessly integrated the
seriousness of the parallel cinema and the popularity of the mainstream cinema.
Most of the films belonging to this stream were directed by PN Menon, I.
V. Sasi, P. G. Viswambharan,
K.
G. George, Bharathan and Padmarajan.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a
period widely regarded as the Golden Age of Malayalam cinema, a new
array of directors joined the stalwarts who had already made a mark in the
industry. The Golden Age saw the narrowing of the gap between the different streams
of the industry. Directors like K.
G. George, Priyadarshan, I. V. Sasi,
John Abraham,
Fazil,
Joshy, Bhadran,
P. G. Viswambharan,
Kamal,
Sibi
Malayil, Hariharan,
Sathyan Anthikkad,
K.
Madhu and Siddique-Lal contributed heavily in the Golden Age. Then there were
extraordinary screenwriters like M. T. Vasudevan Nair, T. Damodaran,
A. K. Lohithadas
and Sreenivasan
who contributed their part as well.
The 2000s witnessed the decline of
quality of Malayalam films. Many directors who excelled in the Golden Age
struggled as many of their films continuously failed critically and
commercially. As a result the gap between parallel cinema (now known as art
cinema) and mainstream cinema (now known as commercial cinema) widened. The
2000s also saw a commercial film formula being created in line with Tamil and Bollywood
films. Directors like Shaji Kailas,
Rafi Mecartin
and Anwar Rasheed
directed blockbusters which had few artistic merits to boast of. Despite the
overall decline, some directors stood apart and made quality cinema. Shaji
N. Karun, Lenin
Rajendran, Shyama
Prasad and Jayaraj made films that won laurels. Notable directors who debuted
in this time include Blessy,
Lal
Jose, R. Sharath, Renjith, Roshan
Andrews, Amal
Neerad, Aashiq
Abu, Vineeth Sreenivasan
and Lijo Jose Pellissery.
Out of the 40 National Film Awards
for Best Director given away till 2007, Malayalam
directors have received 12. The directors who have won include Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1973, 1985, 1988, 1990, 2007), G.
Aravindan (1978, 1979, 1987), Shaji
N. Karun (1989), T.
V. Chandran (1994), Jayaraj (1998) and Rajivnath (1999). There are several recipients
of the Special
Jury Award as well: Mankada Ravi Varma
(1984), John Abraham
(1987), Shaji N. Karun
(1995) and Pradeep Nair (2005).https://affiliate.iqoption.com/redir/?aff=129945