Malayalam Movie Review Checkmate - Cast & Crew

Bio coming soon...

Paul Michael alias Lal started his successful journey in Malayalam film industry with the blockbuster movie “Ramji Rao Speaking” (1989) which was later re-made even in Hindi as Hera Pheri. In this film he took the effort to tie up with Siddidque who was his childhood friend, and their partnership continued for five or six films, after which they had parted due to some differences. Siddique-Lal partnerships had given many new faces in Mollywood. The duo had teamed up to make many social films which had understanding of the public taste and a sense of box-office too. They had launched a production house named “Siddique-Lal” and made another movie “In Harihar Nagar”, which was a tremendous hit. Even their third production “God Father” turned out to be a blockbuster in Malayalam film industry, which had one-year successful run in the theaters. Siddique-Lal production had never been dependent on star value or superstar formula that was witnessed in those days in Malayalam cinema. They had always opted out from casting Mohanlal or Mammotty. Ultimately, both of them had changed their thoughts later and when their fourth production film was to get launched, Siddique-Lal had opted for Mohanlal and made “Vietnam Colony” which did wonders in the box office too. The duo again had combined in their fifth production and made Kabuliwalla, which was also a success. 

After success of Kabuliwala, the duo had got separated, as Siddique wanted to concentrate on direction and Lal had taken interest in total film making concepts such as production and distribution. After they had parted, Lal produced his first film Hitler with Mammotty in the lead role, which had the direction of Siddique. With “Hitler”, Lal’s journey had begun as a producer and he went to make many successful movies in the future such as Friends and Kalyanaraman to name a few. Actor Lal was a genius actor who could blend aspects of both comedy and serious forms. His first film as an actor was Jayaraj’s Kaliyattam (1997) where he got to play a villain role. Later on, he acted in around 50 films. The year 2009 saw his comeback again as a director. He directed the sequel to “In Harihar Nagar” named “2 Harihar Nagar”, which got released in 2010 and was declared a hit. He was the winner of two state film awards for best actor in “Thalapavu”( directed by Madhupal) and “Ayaal”,(directed by, Suresh Unnithan).

Anoop Menon is an Indian film actor, script writer and lyricist born on Aug 3, 1977 in Kozhikode and bought up in Thiruvananthapuram. Anoop is a law graduate and completed his degree in Government law college, Thiruvananthapuram. During his academic years he was anchoring shows in Kairali TV and Surya TV. 

He started his career by playing a leading role in a popular Malayalam TV serial called “Swapnam” broadcasted by Asianet. Anoop made his debut as a script writer in the movie “Pakal Nakshatrangal” in which Mohanlal got Mathrubhumi award and Kerala film critic award for best actor. 

Anoop Menon made his debut as an actor through the Malayalam movie “Kattuchembakam” in the year 2002. He acted in around 7-8 movies, including “Pakal Nakshatrangal” for which he wrote the script. He has acted in 48 Malayalam films till date and in a Hindi movie “Anubhav” in 2009. 

The movie “Thirakkatha” and the role “Ajay Chandran” was a real break for the actor in his career. The movie plot was based on the big time romance of the actor Kamal Haasan and the late actress “Srividya” in late 70’s. The film won the National award for best feature film and the actress “Priyamani” won the Filmfare award for her character “Malavika” in the year 2009. 

He played “Ravi Abraham” in the movie beautiful which bought a new hit combo in Mollywood, Anoop Menon and Jayasurya. Later on, they appeared together in 4 movies, including “David and Goliath” and “Hotel California”, which portrayed a low profile at the box office but all the other movies were box office hits. Currently, the hit duo has taken a small break from teaming up. His upcoming projects are Dolphin and She-Taxi. He was lyricist in the movies “Beautiful”, “Namukku Parkkan” and “Buddy” and he won the best lyricist award for the song Mazhaneer Thullikal from the movie “Beautiful”.

Ratish Shekhar is an Indian singer. He has also directed and produced the film Pudiya, along with Shamita Behl, the leading lady for the film. The film also starred Rutuja Patil, Ajay Jain, Menaha Khurana, and Pahal Busa. Ratish was also the cinematographer of the film. It is an intriguing tale of a wife’s dilemma and highlights the issue of infidelity. The film has bagged an official nomination at Shorted and an official selection at the 8th Indian Cine Film Festival 2020. Coming to his musical career, he has sung the title track of the movie Bawri Chhori which got released in 2021.

Prejish Prakash is an Indian editor. He has mostly worked in Malayalam films. He was born on February 24, 1986, in Pathanamthitta. His family follows Christianity religion. He completed his primary and secondary education from Mount Bethany EHSS and passed out from St Joseph College of Communication with a graduation degree in Multimedia.