When you think of Indian cinema, the mind typically leaps to the glitz of Bollywood or the larger-than-life spectacle of Telugu "mass" movies. But tucked away in the lush, rain-soaked landscapes of Kerala lies an industry that operates on a different wavelength entirely: Malayalam cinema.
Notable actors:
by J.C. Daniel. From its early stages, Malayalam cinema distinguished itself by eschewing the "bhakti" (devotional) wave common elsewhere in India, focusing instead on secular, pluralistic themes and class inequality. Beyond the Backwaters: How Malayalam Cinema Became the