The man who made us laugh: Malayalam cinema awaits Jagathy Sreekumar’s return

It’s been around four years since the laughter that resonated across the Malayalam film industry fell silent. The wee hours of a March 2012 Saturday stood silent witness to a road accident involving Jagathy Sreekumar, the actor par excellence who used to be permanent presence in almost all flicks that spoke the Malayalam language. The mishap that occurred while Jagathy was racing between one shooting location to another, in fact, gave M-Town a jolt like never before.

For, this man was undoubtedly the most bankable ingredient of any flick that was made. With the mishap rendering Jagathy immobile and devoid of any emotion, Kerala’s filmdom was also pushed to gloom. Anyone who arrived on to the Malayalam cinema scene promising to make the audience laugh fell low in comparison. Producers missed this actor who once assured them of good collections and quality humor. Co-stars found things going tough as they found the element of confidence missing as Jagathy continued to be under treatment.

There indeed is a saying in Kerala that, no day passes without a Malayalee having laughed to a Jagathy joke on screen. Even after he was hospitalized and went missing from the big screen, television provided at least a handful of Jagathy scenes every hour, every day, thus making Kerala believe and stay hopeful that he would make a comeback from the hospital bed.

However, four years have passed with Kerala’s film buffs hoping to see Jagathy in action. Though the actor has left hospital, he is in no condition to be his self before the camera. All that Kerala gets to see of Jagathy Sreekumar is a smile painted on his face. The visuals replayed on news television cements the fact that the smile is just another emotionless feature pasted on his face, at the moment.

Even as comedians of the new generation genre are trying to fill in the gap with slapstick antics, dark humor and vulgar moves, the greatness of Jagathy’s thoughtful humor is missed. Cine goers, young and old, sincerely hope for his return.

As the prayers continue, it looks like there is still hope. Jagathy travelled to a shooting location this weekend, of course with support, and stayed there for quite a while. The move to bring Jagathy to a shooting location was led by ace actor Mammootty, as an effort aimed at rekindling the emotions that Jagathy shared with the camera.

Jagathy spent some time away from monotony, in the company of Mammootty, director Kamal and crew at the location of Utopiyayile Rajavu (The Ruler of Utopia) in Trivandrum this week. Jagathy had briefly been brought to the location of Mohanlal-starrer Geethanjali, made by Priyadarshan, a year ago. This is his second visit to a film set in four years.

This week’s event has proved to be one that really reignited hopes. Everyone in Kerala now hopes to see the actor back in action. Will that happen soon, no one knows!

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