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The most famous of them being Mammootty and Mohanlal. After Jayan came a new super star Shanker who gave innumerable romantic hits, manjil vinjapookal being his debut as hero. Nedumudi Venu, Madhu, Urvashi Sharadha, KP Ummer, Sheela, RaviKumar, Vidhubala, Raghavan, Ambika, Sai Kumar, Bhasi, Bhadur, SP Pillai, Lekshmi, Jagadeesh, Jayabharathi, Jagathy srikumar, Ravi Menon and Innocent were the prominent actors then. Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi started their life to Superstardom in the seventies.

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After several years of quality deterioration, Malayalam films saw the signs of some renaissance in the last two years with the release of several experimental films, mostly from new directors. 

Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu, the Award assembling drama, has been chosen as India's official entry to the Academy Awards to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the year 2011. Malayalam cinema Adaminte Makan Abu is the second Malayalam film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film after Rajiv Anchal's Guru. Other films that contributed the most to this renaissance include

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Adaminte Makan Abu, the Award assembling drama film directed by Salim Ahamed, has been chosen as India's official entry to the Academy Awards to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the year 2011. It is is the second Malayalam film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film after Rajiv Anchal's Guru.

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After several years of qualitative deterioration, Malayalam films saw the signs of some renaissance in the last two years with the release of several experimental films, mostly from new directors.

Year 2011 marked as the turning point of Malayalam Film Industry. This year witnessed lots of high quality movies. The movie 'Traffic' which was directed by Rajesh Pillai set the trend in Malayalam. Movies such as 'Salt n' Pepper', 'Chappa Kurisu', 'Indian Rupee' and 'Beautiful' are some of the best films released in that year.

This trend is continuing in 2012, which is a remarkable year for Malayalam Cinema, with more than 15 movies categorized as "Super Hit" status. 

Movies such as 'Second Show', 'Ee Adutha Kaalathu', '22 Female Kottayam', 'Mayamohini', 'Ordinary', 'Mallusingh', 'Grand Master', 'Diamond Necklace', 'Spirit', 'Ustad Hotel', 'Thattathin Marayathu', 'Run Baby Run', 'Trivandrum Lodge' and 'Ayalum Njanum Thammil' are some of them.

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During the late 1970s, some young artists started seeing Malayalam cinema as a medium of expression and thought of it as a tool to revitalize society. A noted director, Java was famous in Kerala as a cartoonist before he started making films. His important movies include Kanchana Sita (1977), Thampu (1978), Kummatty (1979), Chidambaram (1985), Oridathu (1986), and Java (1990). 1970s also saw the emergence of a notable director P. G. Viswambharan with his debut film Ozhukinethire and mythical film Sathyavan Savithri from the same director, which was well accepted. Also, 

Commercial cinema in this period saw several workerclass themed films which mostly had M. G. Soman and Sukumaran in the lead followed by the emergence of a new genre of pure action themed films, in a movement led by action star Java  who is usually considered the first genuine commercial superstar of Malayalam cinema. But this was short-lived, and almost ended with Jayan's untimely death while performing a stunt in a film called Kolilakkam (1980). Nevertheless, he paved way for different films and future actors who proved their talents in both commercial and art genres

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The 70s saw the emergence of a new wave of cinema in Malayalam. The growth of the film society movement in Kerala introduced the works of the French and Italian New Wave directors to the discerning Malayali film enthusiasts. Now s first film, great (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 National Film Award for Best Feature Film. G. Aravindan followed a door's lead with his Uttarayanam in 1974. K. P. Kumaran's Adhithi (1974) was another film which was acclaimed by the critics. 

Cinematographers who won the National Award for their work on Malayalam films in the 1970s were Mankada Ravi Varma for Swayamvaram (1972), P. S. Nivas for Mohiniyattam (1977), and Shaji N. Karun for Thampu (1979). John Abraham, K. R. Mohanan, K. G. George, and G. S. Panikkar were products of the Pune Film Institute who made significant contributions.

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During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Kunchacko made significant contributions to Malayalam cinema, both as a producer and as director of some notable Malayalam movies. He started Udaya Studios in Alleppey (Alappuzha) in 1947, reducing the travel to Madras (Chennai) for film crew and actors. 

This boosted Malayalam film production in Kerala.Many directors sprang up in this period, PN Menon made 'rosy'and later 'Chemparanthi', then Aravindan and Adoor too started work in 1960s to became famous later. Arguably M Krishnan Nair was a the most prominent director producer of this period.