Ramu Karyat

Ramu Karyat was acclaimed as an innovator of Malayalam cinema of the 1950s to the 1970s. Ramu Karyat and  P.Bhaskaran directed Neelakuyil which announced the presence of Malayalam cinema in Indian film arena. This also was the first Malayalam film shot outdoors and also the first film to be recognised in the National level. ‘Neelakuyil’ (1954) broke away from the Tamil – Hindi influence of Malayalam cinema.

‘Chemmeen’ directed by Ramu Karyat was the first South Indian film to bag the President’s Golden Lotus Award for the best film.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Adoor Gopalakrishnan has often been hailed as the filmmaker who has done the most to carry on the cinematic legacy of Satyajit Ray. He started his artistic life as an actor in amateur plays when he was 8.

Adoor’s debut film the national award winning Swayamvaram(1972) was a milestone in Malayalam film history. All his films have won national and international awards (National award for best film twice, best director four times, and best script two times. His films have also won his actors and technicians several national awards). Adoor’s third feature, Elippathayam won him the coveted British Film Institute Award for ‘the most original and imaginative film’ of 1982.

Apart from his films, Adoor’s major contribution towards introducing a new cinema culture in Kerala was the constitution of the first Film Society in Kerala, “Chitralekha Film Society” and Chalachithra Sahakarana Sangham. These movements triggered a fresh wave of good films, called “art films. At a time this movement was so strong that even the popular cinema had to make synthesis with art cinema to create a new genre of films.

G Aravindan

G Aravindan is described in India as a `philosopher-poet of the Seventh Art’. He was a national award winning film director, screenwriter, musician and cartoonist. He was known for his unorthodox way of film-making; he changed his cinematic forms consistently and experimented in story telling without regular narrative styles. Before venturing into film field, he was an established cartoonist.

Aravindan kept changing his cinematic forms consistently during his film career spanning almost fifteen years, from his first film Uttarayanam (1974) to his last film Vasthuhara (1990). Aravindan successfully went beyond the limits and styles of filmmaking created by the new wave filmmakers of that time. This journey towards new facets of narrative included current incidents, history, myths and traditional stories. He also occasionally directed music for other filmmakers.

Aravindan took active part in theatre movements in Kerala. The individualistic style of G Aravindan established him as one of the greatest exponents of Malayalam as well as Indian cinema.

Bharathan

Bharathan is widely regarded as one of the most prolific film directors of Malayalam cinema. At the time of his passing, at the age of 51, he had directed more than 40 movies in several languages. It was the romantic era of Malayalam cinema .

After working as an art director and assistant director for a few movies, he made his directorial debut on 1974 with ‘Prayanam’, based on Padmarajan’s script. The movie received the national award for the best regional film in that year. In the very first movie, he displayed a rare talent in treating sex without falling into vulgarity which was to later became the trademarks of Bharathan touch.

His association with Padmarajan was the beginning of golden era in malayalam cinema. Rathi Nirvedam’ and ‘Thakara’ were the most noted among them with latter being considered one of his best. Rathi Nirvedam was an exclusive treatment of teenage sexual fantasy.

Padmarajan

Padmarajan played a key role in bringing back Malayalam popular cinema back to common man, by telling stories of ordinary people and ordinary events. His first venture as a film directorwas in 1978 by directing the film Peruvazhiyambalam scripted by Padmarajan himself, which bagged that year’s National award for Best Regional Film and State Awards for Second Best Film and best Script writer.

He successfully laid the foundation for a school of Malayalam cinema that strove to tread a middle ground by striking a fine balance between intellectual and commercial appeal, without sacrificing the strong points of either approach; this was accomplished by portraying brilliant stories with ordinary men and women as characters, to which all could relate, steering clear of artificial characters, stereotype mannerisms, and pedantic inclinations allegedly typical of `critically acclaimed’ films.

Along with Bharathan, he displayed uncommon skill in handling human sexuality on the screen, treating very challenging topics without ever falling prey to vulgarity.

Hariharan

Hariharan is a renowned Malayalam film director and writer. His movies mainly revolved around the cultural and relational aspects of a typical Kerala society. Hariharan is unique in that he has, throughout his career, walked the most difficult tightrope of them all. He has made films that never compromised on the aesthetics and yet, his films have been commercially successful as well.

Hariharan teamed up with literateur and screenplay writer M T Vasudevan Nair to form one of the most potent writer-director combinations in Malayalam cinema, coming up with films like Amrutham Gamaya, Oru Vadakan Veera Gadha, Panchagni etc.

Hariharan teamed up with literateur and screenplay writer M T Vasudevan Nair to form one of the most potent writer-director combinations in Malayalam cinema, coming up with films like Amrutham Gamaya, Oru Vadakan Veera Gadha, Panchagni, and Ente Janakikkutty to name just a few.

John Abraham

John Abraham was Considered as an avant-garde film director and writer. John was a romantic artist, who believed that cinema could be used as an effective tool for social changes. He tried to by-pass the tyranny of market forces by establishing direct relationship with the people. He was convinced of the value of using the power of cinema to change society. He produced only four films.

It was under the leadership of John Abraham that Odessa Movies came to existence in 1986. It was an attempt by a group of movie enthusiasts to change the history of film production and distribution by making it a collaborative effort with the public and thus act as an empowering and liberating medium. Odessa’s first film and John’s last Amma Ariyan re-wrote all the conventions of filmmaking. They raised money for the film by travelling from village to village, beating drums and asking for contributions for the ‘people’s cinema’. He also took active part in street play movement.

Priyadarshan

Priyadarshan has directed numerous popular hit movies in Malayalam .His success is generally attributed to the new outlook, particularly slaptstick comedy which is extensively used in his films. Most of Priyadarshan movies are rich with exotic visuals, songs and simple humour spread through.

Priyadarshan is one director who extracted maximum of Mohanlal in the humour stand point. The pair created blockbusters one after another. Their best work till date considered as Chithram (Malayalam, 1987) which made people laugh till end and brought tears finally.

He made a mulitilingual Kalapaani (1996),which told the story of freedom fighters in the jail at Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Apart from Malayalam films Priyadarshan has also directed Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies.

Priyadarshan has won awards both from the State and Central government for his movies, He won the Kerala State Award for Best Director in 1995. Now Priyadarshan is one of the most wanted directors in the Bollywood films.