HISTORY OF MALAYALAM FILM

History of Malayalam Cinema
Early era
The first cinema hall in Kerala was opened in Trichur by K.W.Joseph in 1907 and it had a manually operated film projector. In 1913, the first electrically operated film projector was established (in Trichur again) by Jose Kattukkaran and was called the 'Jose Electrical Bioscope'. Soon such cinema halls were established in other major cities of Kerala.In these early days Tamil, Hindi and English films were exhibited in these theatres.
The first Malayalam film, a silent film, titled Vigathakumaran, was released in 1928. It was produced and directed by J. C. Daniel, a businessman with no prior film experience. The second film, Marthanda Varma, based on a novel by C. V. Raman Pillai, was produced in 1933. However, its release was limited due to legal disputes surrounding use of Pillai's material.
Balan, released in 1938, was the first "talkie" in Malayalam. It was directed by S. Nottani with the screenplay and songs by Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai. It was produced at Chennai (then Madras) in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Malayalam films continued to be made mainly by Tamil producers till 1947, when the first major film studio, Udaya, was established in Kerala.
Malayalam Cinema has always taken its themes from very relevant social issues and has been interwoven with material from literature, drama, and politics its inception. One such film, Jeevithanauka, (1951) was a musical drama which spoke about the problems in a joint family. This movie very popular and is 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 Jeevithanouka closely mimicked its structure hoping to find some sort of "success formula", thus hampering true creativity for a very long time. Nevertheless, this time was hailed as "the period of giants" in Malayalam film industry, due to the work of film stars Sathyan and Prem Nazir.

Cinema of Kerala (or Malayalam cinema) refers to films made in the Indian state of Kerala in the Malayalam language. Malayalam movies typically portray social or familial issues and as a result
are considered more realistic (and highbrow) than Bollywood movies.[1][2] The first 3D film produced in India, My Dear Kuttichathan, was made in Malayalam. The first Cinemascope film produced in Malayalam was Thacholi Ambu.
Malayalam Parallel films of the 1970s
The 70s saw the emergence of a new wave of cinema in Malayalam. The growth of film society movement in Kerala introduced the works of the French and Italian New Wave directors to the discerning Malayali film enthusiasts. Adoor Gopalakrishnan's first film Swayamvaram (1972) brought Malayalam cinema to the international film arena. In 1973 M. T. Vasudevan Nair who was by then recognized as an important author in Malayalam, directed his first film Nirmalyam, which won the President's Gold Medal for the best film. G. Aravindan followed Adoor's lead with his Uttarayanam in 1974. K. P. Kumaran's 'Adhithi' (1974) was another film which was acclaimed by the critics. John Abraham, K. R. Mohanan, K. G. George, and G. S. Panikkar were products of the Pune Film Institute who made significant contributions.
List of Malayalam films from 1976 to 1980
During the late 70s, a good proportion of the youth started seeing Malayalam Cinema as a medium of expression and thought of it as a tool to revitalize the society. A noted director, Aravindan was famous in Kerala as a cartoonist before he started making films. His important movies include Kanchana Seeta (1977), Thampu (1978), Kummatty (1979), Chidambaram (1985), Oridathu (1986), and Vasthuhara (1990).
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Malayalam Art Cinema of the early 1980s
List of Malayalam films from 1981 to 1985
Adoor Gopalakrishnan made Elipathayam in 1981. This movie was widely acclaimed and won the British Film Institute award. His other movies include Mukhamukham (1984), Anantharam (1987) Mathilukal (1989), Vidheyan (1994), Kathapurushan (1995), and Nizhalkkuthu (2003). Padmarajan made his early works in this period including the movie Koodevide? (1983)
P. A. Backer and Bharathan are other names worth mentioning.

'Golden Age' of Malayalam cinema

Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Mammootty carved a niche for them in the Malayalam film industry during the Golden Age and they have now become the most sought after actors in the industry
Most critics and audiences[3] consider this period as the golden age of Malayalam cinema. The Malayalam cinema of this period was characterised by detailed screenplays dealing with everyday life with a lucid narration of plot intermingling with humour and melancholy. This was aided by brilliant cinematography and lighting as in motion pictures like Perumthachan (1990), directed by Ajayan with Santosh Sivan as the cinematographer. These films are also remembered for their warm background music by composers like Johnson, as in the motion picture Namukku parkkan munthiri thoppukal (1986) by Padmarajan.
Many of the movies released during this time narrowed the gap between art cinemas and commercial cinemas in the Malayalam film industry, as in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989). These were paralleled with movies like Kireedam (1989) directed by Sibi Malayil and written by Lohitadas, Mathilukal directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan (1989), 'Amaram'(1991) directed by Bharathan, Kaakothikaavile Appoopan Thadikal(1988) directed by Kamal and 'Sargam'(1992) directed by Hariharan.
The period had an abundance of movies rich in creative humour from directors like Priyadarshan, Sathyan Anthikkad and Kamal. The era also saw well crafted comedy by the Duo Siddique-Lal, (Ramji Rao speaking (1989) and In Harihar Nagar (1990). The internationally acclaimed Piravi (1989) by Shaji N. Karun was the first Malayalam film to win the Caméra d'Or-Mention at the Cannes Film Festival. Other notable contributions of this period include His Highness Abdullah (1990) directed by Sibi Malayil, Abhayam (1991) directed by Sivan, and the motion picture Daisy (1988) an expressive depiction of separation and longing set in a boarding school, directed by Prathap K Pothan.and highest box office hit like new delhi rajavintamakan ekalaviyan oru cbi diary kurup etc.director joshi had given the half of hit in malayalam film

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