Jayaram: Malayalam cinema deceived him numerous times, but other film industries saved him.

As a result of his continuous failures at the box office in Malayalam over the course of the past decade, Jayaram became one of those performers on whom one could not place a wager. However, because to Midhun Manuel Thomas’s Abraham Ozler, he has now made his way back to the place where he was born and raised.

He is a skilled master in handling slapstick, situational, and physical comedy with impeccable timing and exceptional dialogue delivery. His debut film, Aparan, is still hailed as one of the finest mystery thrillers in Malayalam. His filmography is filled with numerous blockbusters.

He has several movies that are revisited by countless viewers to this day. Despite this, Jayaram stands out as one of the few Malayalam celebrities who, at one point in their careers, saw a considerable decline in their achievements.

Over the course of the past ten years, Jayaram has been plagued by a string of box office flops, each of which has been well received by spectators as well as reviewers. As a result, he has become one of those performers on whom one cannot place a wager.

After starring in approximately ten to fifteen films per year, the majority of which were commercially successful, Jayaram reached a new low point, with no Malayalam films being released in the years 2020, 2021, or 2023, and only one film being released in 2022 (Sathyan Anthikad’s Makal).Now, two years later, Jayaram has made his return to the Malayalam film industry.

He has undergone a significant shift and has embraced a type of character that is rarely provided to him in the industry. This comeback was made possible by Midhun Manuel Thomas’ crime thriller Abraham Ozler. It has been six years since Ramesh Pisharody’s Panchavarnathatha, and if everything goes according to plan, Ozler could be the stage actor’s first hit in that time.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that he experienced a string of failures in the Malayalam film industry, Jayaram was able to achieve success in other languages, particularly in the South, where he displayed his talent and became a part of significant hits.

Jayaram: Malayalam cinema deceived him numerous times, but other film industries saved him.

To be more specific, although the Malayalam film industry was attempting to limit him to roles that were stereotypical, other sectors saw his potential and skillfully utilized his strengths. As a result, Jayaram was able to achieve back-to-back successes despite experiencing setbacks in his region of origin.

In Malayalam, his biggest challenge arose from being offered only the roles of ‘gullible upper-caste villager in distress’, an archetype that brought him substantial success in the 90s, evident in films like Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu (1988), Peruvannapurathe

.Visheshangal (1989), Mazhavilkavadi (1989), Adhwaytham (1992), Dhruvam (1993), Meleparambil Anveedu (1993), Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava (1995), Aadyathe Kanmani (1995), Swapna Lokathe Balabhaskaran (1996), Thooval Kottaram (1996).

Superman (1997), Kilukil Pambaram (1997), Kottaram Veettile Apputtan (1998), and Pattabhishekam (1999), among others.However, the proliferation of the internet and social media, which encouraged extended conversations about film among a wider audience, resulted in the rejection of storylines that exalt savarna. As a result, Jayaram is having a difficult time establishing a foothold in an ever-changing world. Certainly, he is not a victim in this situation.

Jayaram: Malayalam cinema deceived him numerous times, but other film industries saved him.

It is more accurate to say that he played a big role in the perpetuation of elitist and misogynistic ideas through films, particularly those that were produced from the 1990s to the late 2000s.Even in Tamil.

Jayaram was primarily cast in characters that were quite similar to one another. For example, he played Chellappa in the 1993 film Gokulam, Nandagopal in the 1993 film Purusha Lakshanam, Anand in the 1995 film Kolangal, and Sirusu in the 1995 film Murassi Maman.

After working with Kamal Haasan on the film Thenali (2000), which was directed by KS Ravikumar, his career in Tamil cinema began to take a different path. It was his performance as the psychiatrist Dr. Kailash in the slapstick comedy that struck a chord with audiences, which led to him being cast in roles that went beyond the normal representation of characters.

At the same time, this character was a crucial turning point in Jayaram’s career as a whole because it was a significant departure from his prior efforts, even in Malayalam. He played the role of the envious and cunning psychiatrist with great skill, whose grandiose schemes to lure Thenali Soman (Kamal) from his house continually failed.

He was able to handle the role brilliantly.Almost immediately after Thenali, he was offered a role in Panchatanthiram (2002), the subsequent film that KS Ravikumar and Kamal Haasan worked together on.

This film was a great opportunity for him to demonstrate his ability to inject humor through voice modulations, and as a result, numerous of his lines became commonplace in popular culture. From the dual roles in Manobala’s Naina (2002), in which one of the characters is a ghost.

To the portrayal of an author in Balu Mahendra’s psychological thriller Julie Ganapathi (2003), in which he is held captive by his sasaeng fan, and later as college principal Albert Aadiyapatham in Raju Sundaram’s Aegan (2008), which is reminiscent of Boman Irani’s character Yogendra Agarwal in Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na (2004), he has consistently received something new from the Tamil film industry throughout his career.

This reached new heights when he took on the character of the antagonist in Venkat Prabhu’s hit comedy thriller Saroja (2008). This was one of the few instances in Jayaram’s career where he portrayed a villain, and it marked a significant milestone for him.

An facet of his talent that had not been seen before was brought to light by his performance as ACP V Ravichandran, which was undeniably effective. In the wake of this achievement, Jayaram took on yet another antagonistic part in Jeeva’s film Dhaam Dhoom (2008), in which he once again delivered an amazing performance.

However, during the same year, he appeared in a number of Malayalam films that were nothing short of mediocre. These films were Magic Lamp, Novel, Veruthe Oru Bharya, Parthan Kanda Paralokam, and Twenty: 20. In these films, he played roles that were stereotypical, and he failed to demonstrate his broad qualities.

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