Even though Indian Cinema bloomed in 1912 it took time for the movement to reach the South to hit the Malayalam screens. This article is an earnest endeavor to cobble into a brief article the birth and development of Malayalam Cinema.
Indian Cinema even though yielded to the magical hands of Phalke the genre took its own time to creep into the Malayali lives. The main reason remained that none was aware enough to start such an endeavor in Kerala. The early Malayalam Cinema was all the creations from the Chennai based Film studios. It was only later in 1947 the first film studio of Kerala ,Udaya was established by Kunchakko in Aleppy.
The first Malayalam Film Vigathakumaran (1928) was a silent movie by J.C.Daniel who was a dentist by profession.But the economic failure of the movie discouraged him from advancing further in the industry.
The second silent film, Marthandavarma (1933) by Sunderraj based on the story by C.V.Raman Pillai would have created a ripple in the state but getting entangled in a legal embargo the second and last silent Malayalam Movie passed to the oblivion just after 2 days of exhibition. It was the 1st Indian adaptation from Literature than puranas.
1938 saw a new beginning for the Malayalam Cinema with the release of the film Balan produced by R Sunderam and directed by S Notani which was a melodramatic film that dealt with the story of 2 orphans struggling under their stepmother. The film but had a strong Tamil influence and failed picturise the true