Sarapancharam: A Legendary Malayalam Action Classic & Jayan’s Enduring Legacy.

It was the year 1979, in which legendary evergreen hero Prem Nazir found his most worthy opponent after some years of single-handed domination in Malayalam cinema. His opponent was, of course, Krishnan Nair, who is more known to the public by his stage name ‘Jayan.’ Jayan had an incredibly tough time in the initial 5 years of his career, and it was in 1979 with Hariharan’s Sarapancharam that he managed to get his actual break. Even today, Sarapancharam remains a classic film of Jayan, celebrated throughout the state with homages thrown around even today. And now, after 46 years, a 4K definition remastered print of the film is going to hit the big screen on Friday this week. To commemorate the success and impact of this film, I’m writing this article explaining Sarapancharam as well as various important trivia revolving around it.

Based on a story by legendary writer Malayattoor Ramakrishnan (which in turn was loosely adapted from D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover), Sarapancharam tells the story of Saudhamini (portrayed by legendary actress Sheela) and her cruel second husband, Chandrasekharan (Jayan). The film also recounts incidents from her flashback, where a young, sexually frustrated wife, Saudhamini, fell for a handsome and macho-looking Chandrasekharan, who was formerly employed at her mansion to look after their horse. Her lustful thoughts about him became uncontrollable, and she became physically intimate with him after a point. Her first husband, who was paralyzed, dies in the meantime, and she decides to remarry Chandrasekharan. Saudhamini’s daughter Devi, who previously witnessed both her mother’s illicit affair and her father’s demise, developed serious animosity towards both her stepfather and mother and became somewhat estranged from them. It is after the marriage that Saudhamini comes to know about Chandrasekharan’s darker shades, as he is a womanizer in reality who is only after the former’s money. After several years in the present, Devi is still antagonistic with her family and falls for a man who is her former house aide’s son. Saudhamini is tolerating her husband for the sake of it. Chandrasekharan is still in his cruel landlord avatar. What happens afterwards revolves around the dynamics surrounding this family, chases, and ultimate decisions that could cause a major impact on their own personal and family selves.

The film made Jayan a household name and provided him with the fame and box office draw image he was known for afterwards. Some of the songs by Yusufali Kecheri became immensely popular. Sarapancharam became the highest grosser of the year in Malayalam cinema at that time. It was also the first major film in the career of legendary actor Oduvil Unnikrishnan, who too was seeking a major film role at that time. Oduvil Unnikrishnan portrayed the role of Subbaiyer, who had comic shades, which he mastered quite efficiently. Sarapancharam’s success helped him bag more roles afterwards and helped him become one of the most celebrated ‘natural actors’ in Malayalam cinema itself. Revered actor Nellikode Bhaskaran bagged a State Award that year for his performance in the film. He portrayed the role of Sidhayyan, the former house aide, thrown out by Chandrasekharan for questioning the latter’s illicit actions. The major feature or impact of Sarapancharam came from its protagonist Chandrasekharan, portrayed by Jayan. The makers originally wanted veteran actor Madhu to do the role at that time and had Jayan cast in that role afterwards. It’s often said that people associated with the film, including the distributors, were originally against this casting decision, as Jayan wasn’t a familiar name in cinema at that time. But things changed afterwards, and now Sarapancharam is known to be Jayan’s breakthrough film rather than anything. Sarapancharam, in a way, is like what films like Baazigar are for Shahrukh Khan, as, similar to SRK, Jayan also made his breakthrough with a negative role and managed to garner showering praise and support with his villainous performance.

Jayan, at present, is undoubtedly one of the most immortalized figures ever in the history of Malayalam cinema itself, as his overall build, dialogue delivery, attitude, style, etc., are celebrated even today (even though mockingly at times). What’s even more amazing about his era is that he managed to attain all the success with films having simple story threads along with commercial elements and no remarkable features otherwise. In short, Jayan’s films became classics because of Jayan and his staggering presence, and not due to any other external features, in opposition to the case of his contemporaries like Nazir and Madhu, who all have more than one critically acclaimed film in their list. Jayan is also in a way, considered the most successful lead in Malayalam cinema, as he is the only lead with a 90% success streak in Malayalam cinema (even though we can’t be sure how things would’ve been if he had stayed alive for a few more years at least). The 79-81 era in Malayalam cinema is known as the era of Jayan, as he was the reigning big name at that time, severely challenging the legend, Prem Nazir, and his other contemporaries, Madhu and Soman, never even managed to compete that well against him at that time. All the highest-grossing films of the year during that era were his films, which were Sarapancharam, Angady, and the posthumously released Kolilakkam.

One of the major features Jayan is known for is his willingness to do daredevil stunts (mind you that this was all before the stunt era of Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise). He displayed his prowess for the first time with Sarapancharam, where he showcased his incredible horse-riding skills. He showcased this ability in later films as well. Jayan’s dialogue delivery and attitude were other features of the film that became a major trend at that time. He immortalized his lines penned by K. T. Muhammad and Hariharan. Such traits helped him to bag more films, and he managed to showcase them again, which later resulted in the formation of some of the iconic moments in Malayalam cinema itself. Perhaps the most important aspect to be discussed here is that iconic scene where Jayan was shown massaging a horse on its back. His well-toned body was displayed in front of the public and raised major fitness goals for fans. Until then, none of the leads in Malayalam followed a strict exercise or diet routine. Almost all of them carried a somewhat saggy gut. Of course, globally, the 70s were also the era of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He, along with his contemporaries like Lou Ferrigno, was busy shaping the phase of bodybuilding altogether. Arnold especially had followers even from our Kerala itself at that time, including actors cum professional bodybuilders like Abu Salim and M.K. Babu. But even those men’s passion wasn’t that beloved initially, as the Keralites were largely still unfamiliar with the concept of a toned body, and the concept of gym and bodybuilding was still an extremely niche concept in Kerala at that time. Jayan was quite the opposite of it and carried an admirable build, which he probably gained from his life during his Navy days and admiration for the martial arts icon Bruce Lee. The scene where Jayan displayed his physique became a trend and encouraged his male fans to go to the gym. Even the legendary Kamal Haasan once credited Jayan for helping him attain a strict physical goal in his life. Even today, Jayan’s massage scene is paid homage. Some of the notable examples where this scene was referred to include films like Kalyanaraman and Ee Pattanathil Bhootham.

In addition to all this, the film by direct or indirectly made another trend. More films with a plot about women having extramarital affairs with a more handsome/macho-looking man (who could be someone from the lower caste or less financially endowed than the woman) were made afterwards. Sometimes it would become a pivotal point in the whole cinema, and at times a smaller one. Of course, a lot of such films came under the ‘adults-only’ classification. About 8 years later, Sarapancharam was remade into Bollywood as Anjaam (not to be confused with the Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit starrer film). Hema Malini essayed the role previously played by Sheela, while Shafi Inamdar got cast in Jayan’s place. Initially, it was Raj Babbar who got cast in the role but left due to creative differences. Anjaam was also directed by Hariharan. The film, however, failed to recreate the same magic the original did in its homeland.

Now this film is coming out almost half a century after its release, to hit the big screen once again in the form of a remastered version. Like I said before, Jayan is still one of the most immortal men in Malayalam cinema with a profound influence in our pop culture. But how well will he manage to recreate the same magic he did in his time, because it is clashing with the much-awaited Mohanlal starrer Thudarum (I know that the remastered Sarapancharam is a limited-release work, but still…). Let’s see how Sarapancharam will manage to run among the current generation of audience, and how much Jayan can fare in this era.