Jayan: Difference between revisions
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However all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a smilar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotations in Malayalam cinema that "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so". |
However all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a smilar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotations in Malayalam cinema that "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so". |
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===Resurgence in 2000s=== |
===Resurgence in 2000s=== |
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In |
In late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in [[Kerala]] and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It owed mostly to programs by popular [[mimicry]] stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows. However it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppey Ashraf who dubbed for many of his characters after his death. |
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The "come back" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today Jayan is best remembered |
The "come back" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, his risky stunts, his machismo mannerisms and his unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. [[Madhu (actor)|Madhu]], a famous actor prominent in the 60s, once stated in an interview, "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man." |
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==Return to the silver screen== |
==Return to the silver screen== |
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Revision as of 09:19, 14 March 2011
Jayan | |
|---|---|
| File:JayanLastPhoto.jpg | |
| Born | Krishnan Nair |
| Occupation(s) | Actor in Malayalam cinema, sailor in Indian Navy |
| Years active | 1972-1980 |
Krishnan Nair (Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണന് നായര്, July 25, 1939 - November 16, 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan (Malayalam: ജയന്), was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam cinema or Mollywood, a sector of Indian movie industry. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous as a stunt actor, well known for performing dangerous stunts without using professional stunt performers as stunt doubles. He has been acclaimed as the first action hero of Malayalam cinema.[1]
Jayan was an Indian Navy officer before he came to films and rose to fame as an actor in a very short time, appearing as an action hero in numerous films during the 1970s. He died at the age of 41, at the peak of his popularity, as a result of an accident while filming a dangerous stunt that involved climbing aboard a flying helicopter from a moving motorcycle. The stunt ended in disaster when the helicopter crashed, crushing the actor on the ground.
The screen persona of Jayan made a comeback in early 2000s, with cartoons, emails and mimicry programs on stage and on television portraying him as a comic superhero and unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star (known as Jayan quotes, similar to Chuck Norris facts) becoming widespread .This movement was led by mimicry artists and fueled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialog delivery and his machismo image.[2][3][4][5] These were claimed to honour his memories but were also criticised for parodying of the legendary actor years after his death.[6][7]
Biography
Early life
Jayan was born in Kollam, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli, Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birthname was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Jayan's formal education ended at 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School; when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions like anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. Then he left the Indian Navy to try his hand at various civilian jobs, working as an insurance agent and sales representative in Cochin for a few years. It was a chance meeting with veteran Malayalam character actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham.
Film Career
Random Appearences and Early Career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearences in some movies of the early 1970s. One of them is believed to be Post Mane Kanmanilla but details of these are unconfirmed at present. These minor appearences were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew Kannan Nair, he had the role of a vampire like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which never released.[8] His first appearence as Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham which is credited as his first film.[9]
Rise to Fame
The name "Jayan" (English meaning: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles starting with Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break with Thacholi Ambu (1978) in which he acted as a co-hero. What made Jayan a superstar was his negative hero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular malayalam film actors of his time.[10] He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.[11][12]
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all records set in the malayalam industry till it's time and became the highest grosser in 1979.[13] It's records were broken by another Jayan film Angadi in the following year which cemented his popularity among the masses.[14] In films like Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of quality critical films at that time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared barechested in numerous scenes. His onscreen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to Malayalam film history.
Multistar Films
Jayan acted in several multistar movies mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films like Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc all of which were big successes. He also acted with other popular stars of the time like Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In Early films before 1979 (like Thacholi Ambu & Panchami) he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the late 1970s relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action superstar and placed him as the central character with other popular heros including Nazir shifting to more of supporting roles. This became more evident in later films of Jayan-Nazir duo like Love in Singapore when the primary focus shifted to Jayan's character instead of early films that were based around characters played by Prem Nazir.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climax scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan, who later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst to tears & ran out of the buildings while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for a genius promotion for some upcoming project.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
Death Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released with the label of his last film including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films Jayan's voice was dubbed by Aleppey Ashraf, a popular mimicry artist of the time.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in imposters who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up in the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably & proved especially ineffective in fight & stunt scenes. Then directors & producers started a search for new actors to replace him.[15] This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (like Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (like for example, his own brother who came as Ajayan) and those with similar mannerisms & style (like Bheeman Raghu).[16] One of them who started with the stage name 'Sajin', would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.[17]
However all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a smilar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotations in Malayalam cinema that "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in 2000s
In late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows. However it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppey Ashraf who dubbed for many of his characters after his death.
The "come back" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, his risky stunts, his machismo mannerisms and his unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 60s, once stated in an interview, "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies.[18] The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), will be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid.[19] The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.[20]
Selected filmography
- Komaram (1982)
- Ariyappedatha Rahasyam (1981) .... Raghu
- Kolilakkam (1981)
- Gargjanam (1981) .... (Jayan completed part and then remade with Rajnikanth)
- Sanchari (1981)....Bargavan
- Thadavara (1981) .... Seema
- Aakramanam (1981)
- Panchapandavar (1981)
- Abhinayam (1981) .... Raghu
- Agnisaram (1981)
- Aakkramanam (1981)
- Love in Singapore (1980) .... Suresh
- Angaadi (1980) .... Babu
- Anthappuram (1980) .... Ambika
- Benz Vasu (1980)
- Ethikkara Pakky (1980)
- Idi Muzhakkam (1980)
- Kaanatha Valayam (1980)
- Karimpana (1980) .... Muthan
- Kari Puranda Jeevithangal (1980)
- Manushya Mrugam (1980) .... Babu/Gopi
- Meen (1980)
- Deepam (1980)
- Chaakara (1980) .... Sethumadhavan
- Moorkhan (1980) .... Vinod
- Naayattu (1980)
- Ethikkara Pakki (1980) .... Adimakannu
- Paallattu Kunjikannan (1980)
- Theenalangal (1980)
- Chandrahasam (1980)
- Sakthi (1980) .... Vijayan/Rajan Varma
- Aavesham (1979) .... Gopi/Ravi
- Angakkuri (1979)
- Anupallavai (1979)
- Avano Atho Avalo (1979)
- Chuvanna Chirakukal (1979)
- Kazhukan (1979) .... Velu
- Venalil Oru Mazha (1979)
- Irumpazhikal (1979) .... Jayabharathi
- Sarppam (1979)
- Ivide Kattinu Sugandam (1979)
- Mamangam (1979) .... Moosa
- Mochanam (1979)
- Poottatha Pootukkal (1979) Tamil
- Prabhu (1979)
- Puthiya Velicham (1979) .... Venu
- Vellayani Paramu (1979)
- Sharapancharam (1979) .... Rajasekharan
- Sayoojyam (1979)
- Oru Ragam Pala Thalam (1979)
- Pennorumbettal (1979)
- Sanndhyaragam (1979)
- Pushyaragam (1979)
- Sigharangal (1979)
- Kadathanattu Makkam (1978)
- Mukkuvane Snehicha Bhootham (1978)
- Aana Paachan (1978)
- Adavukal Pathinettu (1978)
- Ee Manohara Theeram (1978)
- Iniyum Puzha Ozhukum (1978) .... Vidhubaala
- Itha Oru Manushyan (1978)
- Jayikkanaayi Janichavan (1978)
- Kaathirunna Nimiksham (1978)
- Lisa (1978)
- Mattoru Karnan (1978)
- Soothrakkari (1978)
- Thacholy Ambu (1978)
- Yeatho Oru Swapnam (1978)
- Kanyaka (1978)
- Kalpavruksham (1978)
- Asthamayam (1978)
- Pattalam Janaki (1978)
- Adimakkachavadam (1978)
- Sathrusamharam (1978)
- Midukkipponnamma (1978)
- Madanolsavam (1978) .... Dr. Jayakumar
- Kannappanunni (1977)
- Angikaram (1977)
- Acharam Ammini Osaram Omana (1977) .... Sudhakaran
- Itha Ivide Vare (1977)
- Ormakal Marikkumo? (1977)
- Randu Lokam (1977)
- Rathi Manmathan (1977)
- Rajaparampara (1977)
- Anjali (1977)
- Aval Viswasthayayirunnu (1977)
- Abhinivesam (1977)
- Kavilamma (1977)
- Sukradasa (1977)
- Ivanente Priyaputhran (1977)
- Aparajitha (1977)
- Adyapadham (1977)
- Tholakkan Enikku Manassilla (1977)
- Amrudha Vahini (1976)
- Ashirvadam (1976)
- Panchami (1976)
- Yavvanam Daham (1976)
- Mallanum Mathevanum (1976)
- Agnipushpam (1976)
- Ullasayathra (1975)
- Shapa Moksham (1974)
Gallery
-
Jayan first scene in Shapamoksham
-
A still from fan collections.
-
Stills from fan collections.
-
Remains of the helicopter after the accident.
-
The ocean of humanity during the last journey.
-
Jayan's last known still photograph before death presented to the family by the actor.
-
The citizen watch used by Jayan. -
The Jayan statue at Kollam. Behind is the actor's residence which is now a Nursing Home.
Further reading
- Official website
- Jayan at IMDb
- Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
- Image gallery
- "Jayan: Love You All" - an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
References
- ^ Mathrubhumi weekly, 2010 November 21 issue, Page 9
- ^ Typical Jayan dialogue
- ^ here Immortal Action Hero Jayan in his typical role.
- ^ Those unmistakable Jayan dialogues
- ^ Jayan jokes and quotes
- ^ Mathrubhumi weekly, November 21, 2010, Page 10
- ^ Actor's family member comments on Jayan imitations and mimics
- ^ Nostalgia magazine, November 2010 issue, Page 13
- ^ Jayan selected filmography- List of known films
- ^ Jayan The Immortal Superstar
- ^ Nostalgia- Jayan Memories
- ^ Metromatinee.com- Action Hero Jayan
- ^ List of highest grossing films
- ^ List of yearwise top grossers in malayalam
- ^ Ormayil Jayan-An interview with Kannan Nair-Jayan's nephew
- ^ Jayan Memories- with Kannan Nair part 2
- ^ Chamayangalode (4)- Sajin and Jayan's throne
- ^ Mathrubhumi-Avatharam to have Jayan in the lead
- ^ The Hindu Report-Return of a matinee Idol
- ^ The Hindu Report-Action star Jayan to reappear in movie