Malayalam Awards Kerala State Film Award 2018 - Cast & Crew

Sithara Krishnakumar, or as we call her Sithara, is a splendid playback singer. She started off her career in 2007 with her first song ‘PammiPammi’. She got a kick to her profession after winning several musical talent shows like AsianetSapthaSwarangal (2004), Kairali TVGandharvaSangeetham and Jeevan TV Voice. She has now given her voice to over fifty film songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Her forte is folk and fusion genres of music. Sithara is on a musical roller-costar with a specialty in various styles including Hindustani classical, Carnatic and Gazals. Born in Kozhikode, Kerala, this lady started to sing at the age of as early as four. She was born and brought in the music world as the family was already inclined towards classical art.

Pauly Valsan is an Indian film and theatre actress who mainly showcases her talent in regional Malayalam movies. She is most well-known for playing Mariam Thressia (Pennamma) in the Malayalam blockbuster “Ee. Ma. Yau” (2018) and was honored with the Best Character Actress award at the 48th Kerala State Film Awards for her performance. The film also won the best director and actor awards at the 49th International Film Festival of India. Pauly was born and raised in the coastal region of Vypin, Kochi along with her six siblings. She is one of the eldest members of her house and has two children from her husband Valsan, a theatre actor. She married Valsan against the wishes of their families since they belonged to different castes but their families eventually came around.

"Appu N.Bhattathiri is an editor and actor in Malayalam Film Industry. He started in the Malayalam cinema as an Assistant Director for the Crime-Drama film “Second Show” (2012). Later he worked for an independent film “Oraalppokkam” (2014) which was marked his editorial debut. He was noticed for his editorial talent and bagged about a dozen films as an editor.

Life usually is unexpected, and it takes a turn when we least expect it. Sanjeev Pazhoor’s life has been nothing but a series of unpredictable events and opportunities. From being an Indian novelist to screenwriter and a director and then a government employee, Sanjeev has been actively associated with the Indian Film Industry. Sanjeev Pazhoor was born on 8th April in the year 1974.

Nishad is an Indian born actor, director, screenwriter predominantly working for the Malayalam Cine Industry. Born on May 13, 1973, in Trivandrum, Kerala, Nishad completed his schooling Alappuzha Leo XIII HSS School, Trivandrum. He then went on pursuing his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the TKM College, Kollam. He worked as a child artist in the film named Anthiveyile Ponnu in the year 1982 directed by Radhakrishnan.

M.K.Arjunan is a well-known Malayalam music composer. He is basically from Kerala, India. He was born in the year 1950. His father Kochukunju passed away when M.K.Arjunan was young. So his mother Parvathi was not able to look after the big family and had to send him and his brother to Jeevakarunyananda Ashram at Palani. M.K.Arjunan started his music career in this ashram. During the youth, composing music was another turn in his life. Noticing the talent of his in music the head of the ashram decided to give him music classes himself. Kumarayya Pillai was his first music teacher and continued teaching him for a long time. His passion towards music also grew up as he grew up. M.K.Arjunan was famous for top names like Changanassery Geetha, people’s theater, Kalidasa Kalakendram, desabhinmani theaters, Alleppey theaters and KPAC.

The precious icon of the Indian music industry, Gopi Sundar has composed his soulful music for more than fifty movies to date. In 2014, he composed the songs & background score for the Malayalam movie "1983" and was awarded the National Award.the movie got a good critic rating of 3.5 out of 5.abrid shine, the debut director of the movie was awarded the Kerala State Awards in the category of the best debut director. Alongside the film bagged two more awards for the category of best & second best actor in the same award ceremony of 2014. He was born in Kochi & opted for joining the music industry for his career. Gopi has a good knowledge of instruments like Tabla & keyboard & has worked as a keyboard programmer in some of Bollywood hit films.

Prabha Varma is a veteran journalist, poet, and anchor. He was born on 24th July 1959 at Kadapra, Thiruvalla. His parents were T.K Narayan Namboothiri and N. Pankajakshi Thampuratty. An award-winning literati who got his primary education from Devasworm Board College, Parumala , and his degree of Master in English from NSS Hindu College and LL.B from Kerala Law Academy.  He was a political enthusiast since his college day. During the emergency in 1975-77, he was an active member of Student Federations of India, a youth wing of CPI (Marxist).

Shahbaz Aman is an Indian Playback Singer and Music Composer. He works in the Malayalam Film Industry. Shahbaz was born on the 27th of December in the year 1969. He was born in Malappuram, Kerala. He is not only a singer in the Malayalam Film Industry but also performs Ghazal music on stage. He is well known for his unique style of singing and producing romantic and soulful songs.

Santhosh Raman is an Indian Art Director predominantly working in South Indian Film Industry. He primarily works on Malayalam and Tamil films. His famous works are Take Off (2017), Njaan (2014) and Aayan Njanalla (2015). Santhosh was born in Thalassery, a rural area of Kannur in India. Santhosh was passionate about films from childhood. He used to bunk classes and went to watch films with his friends in local cinema halls. He was talented in the art and drawing. That is why the art direction aspect of the films inspired him. After completing 12th from his village school, he attended Govt. College of Fine Arts in Thrissur and completed graduation in the field of Applied Arts.

Sanju Surendran is a famous Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer. He graduated from The Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Director Mani Kaul taught Sanju. He has created many significant movies for film festivals. He is a National Award-winning Filmmaker, whose movies were displayed in many film festivals. He worked as a teacher of Film Direction and Screenwriting at the KR Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts, Kottayam, Kerala.

Manesh Madhavan is an Indian cinematographer who worked for the Malayalam film industry. He was born in Ernakulam and completed his cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of India which is situated in Pune. As a great and successful cinematographer, he is having many feature films in Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam language.

Mahesh Narayanan is an Indian writer and film editor, popular amongst the regional audience for his work in movies like Take Off (2017), Traffic (2011), Vishwaroopam (2013), and Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015). Mostly known for his predominant involvement in Mollywood movies and Malayali TV shows, he has been working in the film industry for more than ten years now.

Alencier Ley Lopez is an Indian film actor and theatre artist, popular amongst the regional audience for his work in movies like Rosapoo (2018), Kala VIplavam Pranayam (2018), Oru Kuprasidha Payyan (2018), Parava (2017), Mayanadhi (2017), Vimanaam (2017), etc. Mostly known for his predominant involvement in Mollywood movies, Malayali TV shows, dramas, short films, and theatres, he was awarded the Best Character Award at the 48th Kerela State Film Awards for the film Thondimuthalum Drikasakhiyum (2017). Born on 11th December 1965, Alencier hails from a Latin Catholic family in Puthenthope, Thiruvananthapuram.

Known for his work on Malayalam films, Lijo Jose Pellissery is a film director. He was born in Chalakudy in Thrissur district and is the son of the actor Jose Pellissery. He studied at Carmel High School and went to junior college at The Union Christian College, Aluva. He later studied at IPM, Bangalore and attained his Bachelor's in Marketing HR and Master in Business Administration. Because he came from a family with a cinematic background, he ventured into the industry by making short films. Akira Kurosawa, K.G. George, and Padmarajan are his idols. He made his directorial debut in 2010 with a crime movie titled Nayakam.

Indrans, who was born as K. Surendran, is a Malayalam actor and costume designer. He has acted predominantly in many comedy films and over 250 films. He is the second child out of the seven children of Gomathi and Palavila Kochuvelu in Thiruvananthapuram, India in the year 1951. Indirans made his schooling at the Government Higher Secondary School in Kumarapuram until his fourth grade. 

Subsequently after, he assisted his uncle in his tailoring business. He participated in amateur arts and performed dramas. After this, he established a tailoring shop called Indrans, from where he got his stage name ever since he started acting in films. Indrans was debuted in Choothattam as a costume designer before he started his acting career. 

He is the cousin of the National award winning costume designer, Indrans Jayan. He got married to Santhakumari on February 23, 1985, and the couple was blessed with two children. When he debuted in the film industry, he had the chance to meet several filmmakers such as Prem Nazir, Jose Prakash, Sattar, Pappu and Jayabharathi, but he focused only in doing costume designing for many years and did small roles on the big screen. 

Later on, he started to receive many opportunities from prominent directors such as Padmarajan, Sibi Malayil, Shaji N. Karun, K. Madhu and Venu Nagavally. The 1994 Malayalam film, CID Unnikrishnan B.A. B.Ed is the turning point of his career, where he acted as the best friend of Jayaram’s character. His comedic action clicked among the audiences, and he became one of Kerala’s mainstream comedians. Since then, he became the busiest till date. 

As an actor, he used his slim and lean figure and his distinctive accent to win the attention of the audience. He made his very own style in cinema, and he never mimic the comedic acts of the veterans, Adoor Bhasi, Jagathi Sreekumar, Bahadoor and Innocent. He won the Special Jury Award at the Kerala State Film Award in 2014. Well-known directors T.V. Chandran and Adoor Gopalakrishnan offered him to appear in their films. Some of Indirans projects as a costume designer were Sammelanam, Namukku Parkkan Muthiri Thoppukal, Season, Njan Gandharvan, Sphadikam and more. He also sang in the 2004 Kadhavaseshan. 

He acted in films like Sammelanam, Aparan, Dhanam, Utsava Melam, Janam, Manathe Kottaram, Street, Mannar Mathai Speaking, The Fire, Kalavarkey, Balettan, Patham Adhyayam, Inganeyum Oral, April Fool, Cheriya Kallanum Valiya Policum, Sandwich, Killadi Raman, I Love Me, Swapaanam, Praise The Lord, Apothecary and Seconds to name a few. This year, he acted in the comical road film, Aadu, which stars Jayasurya and Oru Second Class Yathra.

Bio coming soon...