Jagathy Sreekumar – Emperor of Acting
The other day I was talking about Malayalam Movies to few of my friends who hail from Tamil Nadu. They know almost every popular Malayalam actor. To my surprise no one knew who Jagathy Sreekumar was. It is true that he hasn’t acted in any languages other than Malayalam but I felt very sad that a talent like Jagathy is not know to outside world other than to Malayalis.
I promised my friends few links about Jagathy when I get back home. Then I thought I would put all these links about Jagathy in my blog so that few more people who don’t know Jagathy will get a chance to know him.
To know how good an actor he is just see this clip from the movie “Udayananu Tharam” (being remade in Hindi with Anil Kapoor as hero and the movie is named Short Cut). In this clip Jagathy is teaching Sreenivasan how to act in movies. See how Jagathy shows the navarasams in his face in a single shot. How many actors in the world can do this?
Jagathy was born in the year 1951 to Jagathy N K Achary a famous dramatist and writer. The journey for Jagathy in movies, which started in the year 1973 with the movie Chattambi Kalyani is going strong for the last 34 years. He has acted in over 1000 Malayalam movies in this span which itself is a record. Last year alone he has acted in 21 of the 64 movies that were released.
He was given very prominent roles in the early movies of Priyadarshan. The clip below is from the movie “Mazha Peyunnu Madalam Kotunnu” (one of the few movies that Priyadarshan has yet to remake in Hindi). In this movie Jagathy plays the role of a father who wants marry his daughter to an American returned groom (Sreenivasan). The driver of the groom (Mohanlal) fools Jagathy and makes him believe that he is the orginal groom and wants the American returned groom to be thrown out of the house. See how well he has enacted the role of an old man even though he was only in his early thirties during that time.
Jagathy has acted with the past as well as the present generation of Malayalam actors. See this clip from the movie Ulladakkam (content). Here he acts as a mad man who thinks that he has swallowed a horse. He is taken to the hospital where the doctor (Mohanlal) tries to treat him. He lives like a mad man in this scene.
See this clip from another Priyadarshan movie- Thalavattam (Kyom Ki in Hindi). In this scene Jagathy loses his job in the hospital and comes to his boss for mercy. Seeing that his boss is not ready to forgive him he starts shouting at him. See how natural acting comes to his great man.
In the movie “Kilukkam”, one of the all time hits of Malayalam cinema, Jagathy outshines even Mohanlal. See this clip from the movie “Kilukkam”.
Another movie where Jagathy makes every one laugh is “Yodha”- again a movie with Mohanlal. A. R. Rahman started his career in music with this movie.
One more movie clip of Jagathy to show his versatility as an actor, various emotions come to his face with such ease.
These are few of the classic movies, which Jagathy acted. There is lot of other masterpieces he has acted like Moonam Pakkam, Kabuliwalla, Pidakozhi kuvunna nutandu etc. If you have not see those movies I can tell you – you have missed some world-class acting. If he was a Hollywood actor and had just put in half of his performance effort he could have won an Oscar award for best acting several times.
Jagathy Sreekumar has won the Kerala State Best Supporting Actor two times in 1991 and 2002. His biography titled “Jagathy Chirichum Chirikaktheyum” was recently published.
I believe if we take a list of 10 best actors India has ever produced, the name of Jagathy should be in it. I consider him just below Kamalhasan in terms of talent.
I promised my friends few links about Jagathy when I get back home. Then I thought I would put all these links about Jagathy in my blog so that few more people who don’t know Jagathy will get a chance to know him.
To know how good an actor he is just see this clip from the movie “Udayananu Tharam” (being remade in Hindi with Anil Kapoor as hero and the movie is named Short Cut). In this clip Jagathy is teaching Sreenivasan how to act in movies. See how Jagathy shows the navarasams in his face in a single shot. How many actors in the world can do this?
Jagathy was born in the year 1951 to Jagathy N K Achary a famous dramatist and writer. The journey for Jagathy in movies, which started in the year 1973 with the movie Chattambi Kalyani is going strong for the last 34 years. He has acted in over 1000 Malayalam movies in this span which itself is a record. Last year alone he has acted in 21 of the 64 movies that were released.
He was given very prominent roles in the early movies of Priyadarshan. The clip below is from the movie “Mazha Peyunnu Madalam Kotunnu” (one of the few movies that Priyadarshan has yet to remake in Hindi). In this movie Jagathy plays the role of a father who wants marry his daughter to an American returned groom (Sreenivasan). The driver of the groom (Mohanlal) fools Jagathy and makes him believe that he is the orginal groom and wants the American returned groom to be thrown out of the house. See how well he has enacted the role of an old man even though he was only in his early thirties during that time.
Jagathy has acted with the past as well as the present generation of Malayalam actors. See this clip from the movie Ulladakkam (content). Here he acts as a mad man who thinks that he has swallowed a horse. He is taken to the hospital where the doctor (Mohanlal) tries to treat him. He lives like a mad man in this scene.
See this clip from another Priyadarshan movie- Thalavattam (Kyom Ki in Hindi). In this scene Jagathy loses his job in the hospital and comes to his boss for mercy. Seeing that his boss is not ready to forgive him he starts shouting at him. See how natural acting comes to his great man.
In the movie “Kilukkam”, one of the all time hits of Malayalam cinema, Jagathy outshines even Mohanlal. See this clip from the movie “Kilukkam”.
Another movie where Jagathy makes every one laugh is “Yodha”- again a movie with Mohanlal. A. R. Rahman started his career in music with this movie.
One more movie clip of Jagathy to show his versatility as an actor, various emotions come to his face with such ease.
These are few of the classic movies, which Jagathy acted. There is lot of other masterpieces he has acted like Moonam Pakkam, Kabuliwalla, Pidakozhi kuvunna nutandu etc. If you have not see those movies I can tell you – you have missed some world-class acting. If he was a Hollywood actor and had just put in half of his performance effort he could have won an Oscar award for best acting several times.
Jagathy Sreekumar has won the Kerala State Best Supporting Actor two times in 1991 and 2002. His biography titled “Jagathy Chirichum Chirikaktheyum” was recently published.
I believe if we take a list of 10 best actors India has ever produced, the name of Jagathy should be in it. I consider him just below Kamalhasan in terms of talent.
“Let Us All Hope – Best of Jagathy is Yet to Come”
Labels: Comedy, Jagathy Sreekumar, Malayalam Movie
