RE-WORKING THE MAGIC-JAYARAM

Re-working the magic
Malayalam cinema’s safe star, Jayaram, is eyeing new projects to give his career graph the much-needed boost, KK Moidu writes

Malayalam actor Jayaram has pinned hopes on Madhuchandralekha, which has his lucky heroine Urvasi and is directed by Rajasenan an old ally, to renew his Midas touch at the box office. Once considered one of the safest heroes at the box office and a hot favourite of the family audience, the actor’s career has witnessed a slump since 2000, for no plausible reason. The split with his winning team-mate, Rajasenan, could be one of the reasons.
The duo have many hits to their credit. These include films like Aniyan Bava Chettan Bava, CID Unnikrishnan BA B.Ed, Swapnalokathe Balabhaskaran, Naadan Pennum Naattu Pramaniyum, Kottaram Veettile Appoottan, Meleparambil Aanveedu, Ayalathe Adheham and Malayalee Maamanu Vanakkan. Such was their teamwork that industry insiders began predicting that the director would not be unable to give a hit without Jayaram or vice versa. However, after an ego clash Jayaram rejected a film offer from Rajasenan, citing an inappropriate title as the reason. Rajasenan cast Suresh Gopi and Kunjacko Boban in his next venture, Swapnam Kondu Thulabharam. Fortunately, for the Jayaram-Rajasenan team and their fans that movie did not click.
Jayaram’s specialisation has been comedy and sentimental roles. He has also been cast as a supporting hero in many films in the past. He has portrayed characters like unemployed youth and the Namboodiri on screen with relative ease and even managed to arouse audience’s sympathy. Not surprising for before his entry into films this talented actor was a mimicry artiste. His most memorable item those days was his masterly imitation of the late Prem Nazir. During an interview he narrated an incident related to this act. Jayaram was on a flight with the late actor’s son, Shahnawaz. Gripped by nostalgia Shahnawaz requested Jayaram to speak to him in his father’s voice and manner. Then Shahnawaz shut his eyes and Jayaram spoke to him in Nazir’s voice. According to Jayaram the joy on Shahnawaz’s face was unexplainable. He thanked the actor and told him that for a moment he felt he was with his father.
With such incredible talent there was no looking back for the actor during the initial decade and half or so, but with Dileep’s entry things began to change. The younger star had the same mimicry background and also specialised in comedy. His popularity proved a setback for Jayaram’s career. Dileep was repeatedly cast in roles, which would have naturally gone to Jayaram. Another Jayaram favourite, director duo Rafi Mecartin, switched loyalties and started writing roles suitable for Dileep. Earlier, the director duo gave memorable hits like Adhyathe Kanmani, Dilliwala Rajakumaran, Puthukkottayile Puthumanavalan and One Man Show with Jayaram as the hero, but after the surprise success of Punjabi House their scripts Thenkasipattanam, Thilakkam and Pandippada were written mainly with Dileep in mind.
At the peak of his career Jayaram received several offers from Tamil film producers to play the supporting hero, but he chose to concentrate on Malayalam films and turned down those offers initially. He realised that with young Tamil actors like Vikram, Vijay, Madhavan, Surya and Ajith around, he didn’t stand much of a chance in that industry. But when his roles were offered to Dileep, he decided to try his luck in Tamil films. His Tamil films with Kamal Haasan, Tenali and Panchathanthiram, were appreciated. He also did a full-fledged comedy role in the Ajith starrer Paramasivam, directed by P Vasu. He also got a meaty role in a Sarath Kumar film. His Tamil fans lovingly bestowed on him the title of “Navarasa Thendral” (one well-versed in all the nine human qualities described in Indian literature).
Jayaram’s recent change in fortunes saw even a director like Kamal, who did more than 10 movies with the actor, refraining from casting him in his new films. Their last hit together was Kaikkudanna Nilavu. Incidentally Dileep is doing a double role in Kamal’s latest release, Pachakuthira.
Sathayan Anthikkad, another talented director with the unique record of not giving a flop, has also done around 15 films with Jayaram. Their last hit Manassinakkare, was Jayaram’s only hit film in the last four years. Even, though Manassinakkare was a runaway hit the director, however, chose to do his new films with other heroes. He cast Sunil as the leading man in Achuvinte Amma and Mohanlal as the male lead in Rasathanthram. He has also announced his next film with Dileep as the hero.
In the last six years, Jayaram’s super hits were Manassinakkare and Yathrakkarude Shradhakkai, whereas his movies like Pauran, Alice in Wonderland, Fingerprint, Amrutham, Ivar, Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum, Sesham, Theerthadanam, Naranathu Thamburan, Sharjah To Sharjah went unnoticed. Mayilattam, Njaan Salperu Raman Kutty, Malayalimamanu Vanakkam, Uthaman and Vakkalathu Narayanankutty did average business.
He is married to former actress Parvathy and they have two children. Kalidasan and Malavika. His son Kalidasan has also acted in two films. Kalidasan’s performance in his first movie Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal along with Jayaram won him the National Award for the Best Child Artiste. Another movie in his credit was Ente Veedu Appoontem in which Jayaram did the lead role.
Jayaram’s interests other than cinema include festivals, elephants and drums. He purchased an elephant and in keeping with his popularity, the elephant was called “Jayaram Kannan.” Kannan became a star at temple festivals in Kerala. He is now known as “Perumbavoor Kannan” after Jayaram chose to be its half owner, handing over its care to the temple management. The new arrangement had to be made because Jayaram and family shifted to Chennai because that was more convenient for his tight shooting schedules and children’s education.
The actor also gave a maiden performance (arangettam) with the drum (chenda) during Kerala Tourism’s Onam week celebrations at Nishagandhi auditorium at a state-level function. He performed the “Sruthimelam Panchari” a unique musical composition by chenda maestro Mattannoor Sankaran Kutty. The multi-faceted actor is also the brand ambassador of Kerala Tourism’s “Vazhiyoram” project.
His career highs include winning of the State Award for Second Best Actor and Special Jury Award for his performance in Swayamvarapandhal and the State Special Jury Award, Cine Best Actor Award, Filmfare Award, and Rottery Club Award for his performance in Thooval Kottaram.
However, his standing as a safe bet at the box office has been dented with distributors shying away from distributing his completed films. Three such films, Seetha Kalyanam, Magic Lamp and Winter, are gathering dust in the studio labs. Even projects announced with Jayaram as the hero went to others at the ninth minute. A case in example was the supporting role in Roshan Andrew’s Udhayananu Tharam, which finally went to Mohanlal. The movie gave Malayalam cinema a fresh lease of life in 2005 and for Jayaram it was a golden opportunity lost.
Given the present difficult circumstances, Jayaram’s only hope is Rajasenan’s Madhuchandralekha, a theme targetting the family audience, particularly children. The story revolves around the lives of Madhavan (Jayaram), a famous music director and singer, and his wife Chandramathi (Urvasi) and their four children in a rural setting in a fun-filled background. The twist comes after a model Indulekha (Mamta) arrives. This changes their lives. The movie draws its title from the names of its three main characters.
Anjali, Vishnu, Riya and Veena play the four children, while Bheeman Raghu, Johnny, Harishree Asokan and Tom Jacob play Chandramathy’s four brothers. The rest of the support cast comprises Babu Kalasaala, Cochin Haneefa, Sukumari, Vijaya Kumari, Liji Thomas and Indrans. The movie is produced by Samad Mankada.
Another upcoming Jayaram film is Bharathan, directed by Anil Das, and another directed by Lohithadas. Now it is for the audience to decide whether they should return this actor his crown of a safe actor on the basis of these three films.

ANGRY BUT MORE DISAPPOINTED-SURESH GOPI

'Angry' but more disappointed

By KK Moidu

Malayalam superstar Suresh Gopi's problem seems to be neither success nor failure, but the lukewarm response of the audience to his non-angry roles.
The actor began his career as a child artiste in 1965 in the award-winning film Odayilninnu, based on a novel by the same name. After a long layoff he returned to the silver screen to play small roles, initially, and later the villain and second hero. In his two-decade long career he has been part of several hits like Rajavinte Makan, Irupatham Noottandu, Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha, Manichithrathazhu and Innale, to mention a few. In all these hit movies although he played significant roles, it was never the lead character.
In the late 80’s he found his niche in Malayalam cinema as its angry young man, a tag he has survived with for a decade. His career witnessed a massive upswing with several films portraying him as the tough unrelenting cop and an angry young man taking on a corrupt and decaying establishment. Thalasthanam, Ekalavyan, Mafia and Commissioner were some of the films, which belonged to this genre. His talent also became visible in other roles in films like Vazhunnor, Pathram, F.I.R., Sathyameva Jayathe and Lelam. But Commissioner, directed by Shaji Kailas marked the turning point in his career. His character of Bharathchandran IPS went down well with the masses and instantly catapulted him to superstar status. And his dialogues “Ormayundo ee mugham” (do you remember this face) and “Mohan Thomasinte Uchishtavum” (Mohan Thomas’s leftovers) were on the lips of both adults and children. The fact that mimicry artistes like Kottayam Nazeer started imitating these dialogues made them even more enjoyable and popular.
Comedy movies starring Suresh Gopi also made an impact at the box office, but there he had to share the credit with other artistes. Thenkasipattanam, for example had Dileep and Lal, whereas Sundarapurushan had Mukesh. But these films showed that he had a flair for comedy as well.
His portrayal of Kannan Perumalyan in Kaliyattam, a Malayalam remake of Shakespeare's Othello along theyyam lines, fetched him the national award for best actor, his greatest achievement this far. Although he was subsequently nominated for the Kerala state best actor award for his performances in art films Ullam and Makalkku, he lost the crown to his senior Mammootty.
Even though he has acted in over 200 films, his golden era was the 90’s. When viewers seemed to have tired of his gun-toting image, khaki uniform and dialogues, Suresh Gopi lay low for some time. However, much to his disappointment, he was not even accepted, when he tried to experiment. Swapnamkondu Thulabharam, a family movie bombed badly and the actor, it seemed, had lost his Midas touch.
Rumours began doing the rounds that the actor had political ambitions and that he was planning to contest the parliamentary elections from the Kollam constituency as a United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate.
After a four-year gap he made a comeback on the screen with Ranji Panicker at the helm in Bharath Chandran IPS, a sequel to his earlier mega-hit Commissioner. Once again the police commissioner’s role in Bharath Chandran IPS gave his career a fresh lease of life. The movie was widely acclaimed and he regained his image and again donned the police officer’s uniform in Tiger, directed by Shaji Kailas. Tiger didn’t do well at the box office so other police dramas didn't follow soon. Politician Rajmohan Unnithan played the chief minister’s role in Tiger and the film’s publicity didn't work favourably.
After Tiger flopped and he opted to play the role of Captain Sravan in director-writer AK Sajan’s Lanka, he sought a break from his angry young man image by doing a character with negative shades. In Lanka Suresh Gopi plays an army officer sent to Sri Lanka by then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. He stays back and starts a shipping business in Sri Lanka and eventually marries Lanka Lakshmi, a role played with elan by Mamta Mohandas. However, the army officer has a troubled past as a womaniser. Some parts of the film were picturised in a bungalow in Sri Lanka, considered one of the biggest in Asia. But the erotic thriller didn't click at the box office, because it did not live up to Malayalam cinema-goers’ expectations and so the actor’s efforts went unnoticed.
Anil C. Menon, the director of Ben Johnson and Malsaram, has cast Suresh Gopi for his new movie Rashtram, where he plays the role of a chief minister. After the success of the Dileep starrer Lion, directed by Joshi, there is suddenly a glut of films about politicians, who try to cleanse the system. In Lion Dileep played Kerala’s home minister and he excelled in it, making the movie a super hit. Suresh Gopi on the other hand is a step ahead because he plays the chief minister in Rashtram. If the movie clicks at the box office, one is likely to find him in many more political dramas.
Rashtram’s storyline is thus Kerala’s chief minister dies all of a sudden and Kerala Gandhi Ouseppachan, a former central minister, played by Madhu refuses to accept the chief minister’s post because of ill-health. It is then that opposition leader AK Gopalan (Thilakan) suggests that Ouseppachan's son Thommichan (Suresh Gopi) be made the chief minister. Thommichan, a timber merchant, is not interested in politics. He, however, believes in helping the poor and his popularity amongst the masses is well-known.
Finally Thommichan accepts the chief minister’s post thinking that he will be able to do something for the poor and the needy. But when he starts cleaning up the entire system, the politico-criminals and rivals take offence.
Suresh Gopi's favourite director Shaji Kailas’s new movie Chinthamani Kolacase will offer him a character, very different from anything he has played so far. The actor has put all his hope into the film. The duo, who made more than 10 films together, will partner in a murder mystery. Their perfect understanding is something to be watched in their new movie.
Suresh Gopi's fiery dialogues, action scenes, good acting and portrayal of a crime investigator will be the highlights of Chinthamani Kolacase. Unlike his earlier Shaji Kailas films, he does not play a police or army officer but a lawyer, Lal Krishna Veeradiyar, who has never lost a case.
Shaji Kailas has flown in nearly 10 models to play a gang of rich girls called “Mirchi Girls.” The girls help Suresh Gopi in his investigation of the murder of their colleague Chinthamani, the daughter of a temple attendant. Veeradiyar delves deep into the details of the case to bring the real killers to justice and in the process uncovers a major crime gang.
The movie also has Sai Kumar, Murali, Manoj K. Jayan, Siddique, Sukumari, Biju Menon, Bhavana, Aiswarya, Vani Viswanath and Poornima. Bhavana plays the central character, Chinthamani.
Even though Suresh Gopi has proved that he can handle all kinds of roles, the viewers don’t seem to be willing to accept him in all kinds of roles. If Veeradiyar becomes a success he will have to wear the black gown again and again. On the other hand if Chief Minister Thommichan scores, Suresh Gopi will be saddled with many more chief minister roles. But one thing is for sure, if he doesn't do well in either of these roles, we can expect another Commissioner sequel, which will definitely give him the chance to prove his pull at the box office.