Long before Tom Cruise established his image as the generational action star, Malayalam cinema’s first action hero from India, Krishnan Madhavan Nair, better known by his screen name, Jayan, left behind an envious legacy. The Tom Cruise-like Indian superstar of the ’70s lived up to his larger-than-life persona and died in a way that sent shockwaves through the film industry centered in the Indian state of Kerala. After being catapulted to stardom for his machismo, risky adrenaline-inducing stunts, and success at the box office, Jayan enjoyed stardom like none other before him, so much so that attempts to bring him back to screens continued even after his death. Despite an otherwise short-lived film career spanning just under a decade, Jayan’s impact on the silver screen became more noticeable after his death, stirring a cultural phenomenon that still lives more than four decades later.
Jayan is Malayalam Cinema’s First Action Hero
Before coming into films, Jayan served 16 years in the Indian Navy (via The New Indian Express). After trying his hand at a few jobs, he made his first appearance with the screen name Jayan in the 1974 Indian film Shapamoksham. His breakout moment, however, came two years later in a negative role in the 1976 film Panchami. Jayan delivered the highest-grossing Malayalam films consecutively for two years, in 1979 and 1980, through Sarapancharam and Angadi, respectively. Best known for his unique dialogue delivery with a quintessential machismo demeanor and a stylish pair of Elvis bellbottoms, Jayan took up ambitious and risky stunts at a time when actors often depended on stuntmen. In the 1979 film Puthiya Velicham (“New Light”), he performed a stunt jumping on a fast-running goods train. In another film the same year, he undertook a dangerous stunt, swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls.
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Unfortunately, much like his life, Jayan’s death was also marked by action, when the actor died in a helicopter crash during the shooting of a film’s climax. For a stunt in the film Kolilakkam (“Shockwave”), Jayan was supposed to jump from a bike to a helicopter. However, the stunt went wrong and the helicopter crashed with Jayan hanging from the landing skids. According to Producer K Sasi‘s interview with The New Indian Express, the actor could not be saved despite being taken to the hospital for surgery which lasted an hour. According to scriptwriter Bipin Chandran, many theories started emerging after the untimely death of the actor. Reports even suggest that people refused to believe the actor died, considering the news to be a promotional strategy for his next film.
Jayan Continued Making Film Appearances Even After His Death
After Jayan’s death, numerous films, including the one during which he died, were released claiming to be his last film. While some projects were recast and a few films were entirely canceled after the actor’s death, the few films that were released after Jayan’s death featured the voice of an impressionist named Alleppey Ashraf, who dubbed the voice of Jayan. Interestingly, makers started adding random scenes of Jayan to films during action sequences. Another phenomenon emerged in the form of impostors (mainly comprising mimicry artists) with similar mannerisms as Jayan being brought in. Notably, this phenomenon led to the emergence of a lot of actors who resembled Jayan, including his brother Soman Nair, who appeared with the screen name Ajayan. Some of these actors later established long-lasting careers for themselves. In 2012, reports started making rounds on Jayan making a comeback to films posthumously through a film titled Avatharam, which would employ the latest technologies to recreate the fan-favorite actor on the screen (via The New Indian Express).
Despite the overall low quality of the films he starred in, Jayan managed to pull audiences into the theater by virtue of his presence and personality, which continued to inspire many years after his death. The actor and his dialogues have been referred to in Malayalam pop culture numerous times over the decades since his death. The sheer on-screen presence and the daring nature of the stunts portrayed by Jayan elevated the status of the actor from a movie star to an action legend. Jayan’s death and the cultural phenomenon that it propelled speaks volumes about the fandom that the actor commanded at the peak of his career. For a man worshiped for his display of superhuman strength on the silver screen, it does not seem so out of place how he continued making films even after his death, thanks to the many attempts at keeping him alive in the memories of his fans.
Many of Jayan’s films are available to watch on YouTube.
