Ekalavyan (film)

Ekalavyan
Movie Poster
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	Renji Panicker
Produced by	P. V. Gangadharan
Starring	Suresh Gopi
Cinematography	Ravi K. Chandran
Edited by	L. Bhoominathan
Music by	Rajamani
Production company	Grahalakshmi Productions
Distributed by	Kalpaka Release
Release date	1993 (1993)
Running time	160 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Ekalavyan is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Renji Panicker. It stars Suresh Gopi in lead role, alongside an ensemble cast of Siddique, Geetha, Narendra Prasad, Vijayaraghavan, Ganesh Kumar, Janardhanan, Madhu, Maathu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Kuthiravattam Pappu and Devan. ^{[1] [2]}

Ekalavyan became a blockbuster and ran for 200 days in theatres. With consecutive box office hits from The News, Thalastaanam , Mafia and Ekalavyan, Suresh Gopi was catapulted to the status of a matinée idol. After the success of the 1994 blockbuster Commissioner in Andhra Pradesh, the film was released in Telugu as CBI Officer and became a commercial success. The film was remade in Hindi as Singham Returns . ^{[3] [4]}

Plot

Swami Amoorthananda, a psychotic holy godman with strong international connections, runs a powerful narcotics mafia in Kerala. He also has several connections within political circles and is also a good orator, where he draws many devotees from abroad and turns them into addicts.

A series of murders at Kovalam beach invites sharp criticism of the Kerala Government and the C.M Sreedharan decides to bring Madhavan, a Narcotics Wing officer, to investigate the case. Arriving in Kerala from New Delhi and assisted by a smart CI Sharath Chandran, Madhavan's aggressive way of investigation leads him to Amoorthananda's ashram, which creates a panic in the state.

Amoorthananda decides to eliminate Madhavan and also plans to topple Sreedharan by appointing his aide Velayudhan as the new CM. Upon the orders from Amoorthananda, Mahesh Nair, an international narcotic criminal, arrives in Kerala and kills Sharath. An enraged Madhavan raids the ashram and botches Amoorthananda's plot to cause a series of bomb blasts in the state. Amoorthananda falls from a building and dies, after which Madhavan kills Mahesh Nair by placing a bomb in his mouth, thus saving the state from the blasts and communal riots.

Cast

• Suresh Gopi as ACP Madhavan IPS
• Siddique as CI Sarath Chandran
• Narendra Prasad as Swami Amoorthananda
• Madhu as Sreedharan, Chief Minister of Kerala
• Vijayaraghavan as Cheradi Skariah
• Geetha as Maya Menon
• Maathu as Malu
• K. B. Ganesh Kumar as Unni Joseph Mulaveedan
• Janardhanan as Krishnan / Saghavu C. K, Opposition Leader
• Jagathy Sreekumar as SI Achuthan Nair
• Rajan P. Dev as Velayudhan, Home Minister of Kerala
• K. P. A. C. Azeez as IG Devadas IPS
• Devan as Mahesh Nair
• Augustine as SI Geevarghese
• Kuthiravattam Pappu as Govindan Kutty
• Chithra as Hemambaram
• Maniyanpilla Raju as Vallapuzha Chandran, Journalist
• Kunchan as Keshavan
• Sadiq as Anto
• T. S. Krishnan as Salim Khan
• Usharani as Mathaji
• Ragini as SI Valsamma
• Renji Panicker as an airport passenger
• Suma Jayaram as Susanna John
• Remyasree as Cheradi Skariah's Wife

Production

Filming

The film was shot mostly around Trivandrum and Kovalam and a large part was also shot in Kozhikode. The film was produced by P. V. Gangadharan under Grihalakshmi Productions. The cinematography was handled by Ravi K. Chandran and editing by L. Bhoominathan. Rajamani composed the musical score, while Boban was the art director.

Casting

Initially, Shaji Kailas and Renji Panicker had planned to sign Mammootty in the lead role and Suresh Gopi as the second lead role. After hearing the script, Mammootty told Shaji Kailas that he was not impressed with the dialogues. Due to this, Shaji Kailas decided to start the project with Suresh Gopi in the lead and the originally planned role for Suresh Gopi was later given to Siddique. ^{[5] [6]}

Box office

Ekalavyan became a commercial success and ran for 200 days in theatres. The film shattered many collection records and elevated Suresh Gopi to the status of the matinée idol and the second action superstar in Malayalam cinema after Jayan. It also helped him to fetch more action-oriented roles. ^[7] After the success of the original version, along with Telugu and Tamil versions of Commissioner, Ekalavyan, which was actually released before Commissioner , was released in Telugu and Tamil as CBI Officer. The film had earned Suresh Gopi the title of Supreme Star in Andhra Pradesh. ^[8]

Legacy

Ekalavyan was the second in a trilogy of films that established Suresh Gopi as the new superstar in the Malayalam cinema, the other two being Thalastaanam and Mafia. Suresh Gopi reprised his role of Madhavan IPS in 1995 film The King starring Mammootty and also written and directed by Shaji Kailas and Renji Panicker.

Remake

The film was remade in Hindi as Singham Returns and was directed by Rohit Shetty. ^[9]

References

1. "10 Suresh Gopi films to watch before you die". The Times of India . 27 November 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
2. "They too stirred up a hornet's nest: Pre-social media Malayalam films that sparked controversy". The Indian Express . 18 February 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
3. "Rohit Shetty gets nostalgic about Singham". Telangana Today . IANS. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
4. "We list down 5 Bollywood movies which found their inspiration down south".
5. "ചമ്പക്കുളം തച്ചൻ ഏകലവ്യൻ എന്നീ ..." FilmBeat.
6. "Super hit films that were rejected by Mammootty". OnLookers. 15 September 2015.
7. "Five Malayalam movies rejected by Mammootty which turned out to be blockbusters". International Business Times . 25 July 2018.
8. "Here is how Suresh Gopi became the 'Supreme Star' of Telugu cinema". Malayala Manorama . 28 June 2020.
9. "We list down 5 Bollywood movies which found their inspiration down south".

External links

• Ekalavyan at IMDb