The story of Malayalam cinema begins in the late 1920s, but its cultural identity was forged in the 1970s and 80s. While other Indian film industries were obsessed with larger-than-life heroes and gravity-defying stunts, a quiet revolution was brewing in Kerala. This was the era of directors like and G. Aravindan , who rejected the tropes of commercial cinema in favor of a stark, neo-realist aesthetic.

: Balan (1938) marked the transition to sound, though early films remained heavily influenced by Tamil and theatre-style aesthetics.

Malayalam cinema has gained significant global recognition, with films like: