By the late 1980s, the industry returned to Kerala,[5] establishing Kochi as its hub with most production and post-production facilities located there and most of the film stars including Mammootty and Mohanlal living in the city.

The poets Tirunainaarkurichy Madhavan Nair – Thirunaiyarkurichy, P. Bhaskaran, O. N. V. Kurup, and Vayalar Ramavarma rose up in this period as film lyricists.

Brother Lakshmanan, Dakshinamurthy, K. Raghavan, G. Devarajan, M. S. Baburaj, and Pukhenthey Velappan Nair started a distinct style of Malayalam music.

Kamukara Purushotaman, Mehboob, Kozhikode Abdul Kader, AM Raja, P. B. Sreenivas, K. P. Udayabhanu, Santha P. Nair, P. Leela, S. Janaki, P. Susheela, B. Vasantha, Renuka, and Jikki were the most prominent singers of the 1950s.

Vijaya, Padmini, Ragini, Sharada, Sheela, Ambika, Jayabharathi, Arumula Ponnamma and Sadahna were among the more popular actors active in this period.

Cinematographers who won the National Award for their work on Malayalam films in the 1970s were Mankada Ravi Varma for Swayamvaram (1972), P. S. Nivas for Mohiniyattam (1977), and Shaji N. Karun for Thampu (1979).

[citation needed] During the late 1970s, some young artists started seeing Malayalam cinema as a medium of expression and thought of it as a tool to revitalise society.

The Malayalam cinema of this period was characterised by detailed screenplays dealing with everyday life with a lucid narration of plot intermingling with humour and melancholy.

In the 1980s Padmarajan made some of the landmark motion pictures in Malayalam cinema, including masterpieces like Oridathoru Phayalvaan (1981), Koodevide (1983), Thinkalaazhcha Nalla Divasam (1985), Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil (1986), Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal (1986), Thoovanathumbikal (1987), Moonnam Pakkam (1988), Innale (1989) and Season (1989).

This was the period during which script writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair started teaming up with director Hariharan to produce works like Panchagni, Nakhakshathangal, Aranyakam and Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha.

[31] The 2000-2003 period also saw witnessed the Shakeela tharangam that resulted in the series of production of low budget softporn films in Malayalam cinema.

[36] While the new generation's formats and styles are deeply influenced by global and Indian trends, their themes are firmly rooted in Malayali life and mindscapes.

[38] Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu was chosen as India's official entry to the Academy Awards to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category in 2011.

In recent years, Malayalam films have gained popularity in Sri Lanka,[41] with fans citing cultural similarities between Sinhalese people and Malayalis as a reason.

[42] In 2020 a mid the COVID-19 lockdown, Sufiyum Sujatayum, starring Jayasurya and Aditi Rao Hydari, has become the first Malayalam film to be released on the Amazon Prime Video (OTT) platform as theatres remain shut in Kerala due to the pandemic.

In 2021, Drishyam 2, Nayattu, Kala, Joji, The Great Indian Kitchen and Malik made their list in the highest rated 2021 movies in Imdb.

Tovino Thomas as Minnal Murali which was directed by Basil Joseph under Weekend Blockbusters gained great reviews by critics and became top watched Non-English movie on Netflix.

[45][46] The films that led the success story were Manjummel Boys, Aadujeevitham, Premalu, Aavesham and ARM, all of which earned over ₹100 crores at worldwide box office.

The film's music composer was P. S. Divakar, and the songs were sung by P. Leela, T. K. Govindarao, Vasudeva Kurup, C. K. Raghavan, Sarojini Menon and Vimala B. Varma, who is credited as the first playback singer of Malayalam cinema.

This reformation was led by the music directors Brother Laxmanan, G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy, M. S. Baburaj and K. Raghavan along with the lyricists Vayalar Ramavarma, P. Bhaskaran, O. N. V. Kurup and Sreekumaran Thampi.

[69] Major playback singers of that time were Kamukara Purushothaman, K. P. Udayabhanu, A. M. Rajah, P. Leela, Santha P. Nair, Ayiroor Sadasivan, Lalitha Thampi, C. S. Radhadevi, A. K. Sukumaran, B. Vasantha, P. Susheela, P. Madhuri and S. Janaki.

In the later years many non-Malayalis like Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Hemlata, Kishore Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam sang for Malayalam films.

Lyricists like Poovachal Khader, Kavalam Narayana Panicker and Bichu Thirumala in the 1980s and Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, V. Madhusoodanan Nair and Girish Puthenchery in the 1990s were part of this musical success.

Contributions from Kannur Rajan, Ravi, S. P. Venkatesh, Mohan Sithara, Ouseppachan, Sharath, Vidyadharan, Raghukumar and Vidyasagar were also notable in this period.

K. J. Yesudas and K. S. Chithra and singers like M. G. Sreekumar, G. Venugopal, Radhika Thilak, Unni Menon and Sujatha Mohan were also active then.

At present, the major players in the scene are composers like A. R. Rahman, M. Jayachandran, Bijibal, Deepak Dev, Rex Vijayan, Jakes Bejoy, Rahul Raj, Prashant Pillai, Shaan Rahman, Sushin Shyam, Gopi Sundar, Alphons Joseph, Rajesh Murugesan, Jassie Gift, Shahabaz Aman, Vishnu Vijay, lyricists Rafeeq Ahamed, Anwar Ali, B. K. Harinarayanan, Vinayak Sasikumar, Sarath and Anil Panachooran, and singers Vineeth Sreenivasan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Yesudas, Shweta Mohan, Karthik, Naresh Iyer, Manjari, Haricharan, Shahabaz Aman, Sithara Krishnakumar, Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, K. S. Harisankar, Sayanora Philip, Benny Dayal and Jyotsna Radhakrishnan, along with stalwarts in the field.

Young composers like Deepak Dev, Rex Vijayan, Rahul Raj, Jakes Bejoy, Sushin Shyam, and Prashant Pillai are not only known for their catchy tunes, but also for bringing in a lot of electronics, digital sound and a variety of genres in Malayalam film scores and songs.

[71] The National Award-winning music composers of Malayalam cinema are Johnson (1994, 1995), Ravi (1995), Ouseppachan (2008), Ilaiyaraaja (2010), Isaac Thomas Kottukapally (2011), Bijibal (2012) and M. Jayachandran (2016).

It aims to act against piracy, to safeguard the interests of member actors and actresses, and to serve as a common forum to raise concerns and address issues.

The activities of AMMA include endowments, insurance schemes, and committees on wages and benefits on revision, funds for research, pensions, and education loans for the children of the members.