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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.

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Ramu Karat, one of the directors of Neelakkuyil (the other was P. Bhaskaran), went on to become a successful director in the 1960s and 1970s. P. Bhaskarandirected many acclaimed and hit films in the 1960s and 70s. 

The cameraman of Neelakkuyil, A. Vincent, also became a noted director of the 1960s and 1970s. Notable films of this decade include Odayil Ninny, Bhargavi Nilayam (1964), Chemmeen (1965), Murappennu (1965) and  ruttinte Athmavu (1966). 

The era of colour films came to Malayalam cinema with its first colour film, Kandam Bacha Coat (1961). Chemmeen (1965), directed by Ramu Karat and based on a story by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, went on to become immensely popular, and became the first Malayalam film to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Most of the films of the 60s were animated by the nationalist and socialist projects, and centred on issues relating to caste and class exploitation, the fight against obscurantist beliefs, the degeneration of the feudal class, and the breakup of the joint-family system. In 1960s M Krishnan Nair, Kunchacko and Subramanyam were the leading malayalee producers.

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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 Karat, 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. he 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 a 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.

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The first 3-D film produced in India, My Dear Kuttichathan (1984), was made in Malayalam. The first Cinema Scope film produced in South India was the Malayalam film 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.

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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 Nuka (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 Nazi.

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The first cinema hall in Kerala, with a manually operated film projector, was opened in Thrissur by K. W. Joseph in 1907. In 1913, the first electrically operated film projector was established (in Thrissur again) by Jose Kattukkaran and was called the "Jose Electrical Bioscope". Soon such cinema halls were established in other major cities of Kerala. In the early days, Tamil, Hindi and English films were exhibited in these theatres.

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The Cinema of Kerala (also known as Malayalam cinema, the Malayalam film industry is the Indian film industry based in both Trivandrum and Kochi, Kerala, India, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language. Malayalam cinema is known for its realistic portrayal of relevant subjects in films with less commercial elements. 

Malayalam cinema has pioneered various technical, thematic and production techniques among films in India. The industry is the fourth largest film industry in India. It is also one of the largest producers of parallel cinema in India.

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. 

In the 2000s, the Malayalam film industry returned and established itself both in Kochi and Trivandrum with a major chunk of locations, studios and production facilities.

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The first talkie in Malayalam was Balan, released in 1938. It was directed by S. Notating with a screenplay and songs written by Muthukulam Raghavan Pilli. It was produced at Chennai (then Madras) in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. 

Malayalam films continued to be made mainly by Tamil producers until 1947, when the first major film studio, U day, was established in Kerala, in Aleppo (Alappuzha) by Kunchacko, who earned fame as a film producer and director.

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The first film to be made in Malayalam was Vigathakumaran, which was released in 1930. It was produced and directed by J. C. Daniel, and for this work he is credited as the father of Malayalam cinema. 

The shooting of the first Malayalam film, the silent movie  was started in 1928; the film was released in Trivandrum Capitol Theatre on November 7, 1930. It was produced and directed by J. C. Daniel, a businessman with no prior film experience. Daniel founded the first film studio, 'The Extravagant National Pictures Limited' in Kerala.

The second film, Marthanda Varna, based on a novel by C. V. Raman Pillai, was produced by R. Sundar Raj in 1933. However, it became stranded in a legal battle over copyright issues and the court ordered the confiscation of the prints. As a result, the second movie's exhibition lasted only four days.