Actors - Jayan

	Actors - Jayan

Jayan was a leading actor of the Malayalam film industry in the 1970s. He catapulted to fame riding on Machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himeself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time.

On November 18, 1980, at the height of his popularity, he died in an accident on the sets of a movie called Kolliilakkam. Jayan always insisted on doing his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt of boarding an airborne helicopter from a speeding bike wherein then he was to fight the villain onborad the helicopter while hanging himself from it. The scene was shot once, but the director insisted for a repeat shot in which the accident occured. There have been many conspiracy theories regarding the circumstances of his death. Foul-play might have occoured; However, it is generally believed that the pilot lost control of the helicopter and it crashed. Explanation of how then the pilot and Balan.K.Nair- the screen-villain who was in the helicopter survived is a mystery.

Jayan was very different from the typical Malayalam film stars in the sense that he had a good physique that befitted an action hero.With Jayan the advent of Serious Action movies began. The usual theme of family melodrama and "Romance-Songs-Running-in-between-trees" ended. Movies exploited his musculine physique and often could one see him appeared bare-chest in most of the scenes. His onscreen dress code, most famous for the Elvis bellbottoms, his masculine image and the nature of his death turned him into something of a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for having a very different and unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to Malayalam film history.

In the late '90s and the early part of the 21st century, there was a resurgence in the popularity of Jayan in Kerala. A whole new generation of people (mostly teenagers) developed a Jayan "fad" and his old movies came into prominence again. This resurgence was mostly because of popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star quickly caught on, and very soon, similar shows became common place in popular culture, mostly in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows. This fad quickly came under criticism since most of them made a mockery of the star's typical mannerisms.

The memories of this popular star today stands immortalized in Malayalam film history with his loud, colourful, dress code, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style together with the sudden resurgence of popularity nearly two decades after his tragic death.

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