If at all a reminder was needed about the importance of being Jagathy Sreekumar in Malayalam cinema, it came from Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday afternoon.
As Minister for Cinema K.B. Ganesh Kumar announced the State film awards, one name stood out: the winner of the best comedian. Jagathy won it for Swapna Sanchari , for his role as a fraudulent godman. He has not fully recovered from a head injury following a road accident near Kozhikode on March 9. Neither has Malayalam cinema.
“We miss him badly; there is absolutely no substitute for him in our films,” Jayaram, who acted with Jagathy in Swapna Sanchari , told The Hindu on Thursday. “I was acting with him shortly before that fatal accident too, at Chalakudy, for Thiruvambadi Thamban . After the shoot, we had left in two separate cars, at the same time.”
Jayaram said he had visited Jagathy at Christian Medical College, Vellore, a week ago. “He smiled when he saw me; he is getting better, I am told.”
Jagathy’s son-in-law Shaun George, who has been with him for most of the time since the accident, also said that there had indeed been a discernible improvement. “He is eating normally now; though he has not begun to speak yet, he has been making a few attempts of late, and in fact uttered some words, like he did when Mammootty visited him on Thursday,” he said. “The doctors at Vellore too are hopeful of a speedy recovery.”
So are the Malayalis the world over. No actor has been loved by them as much as Jagathy. And nobody has made them laugh as much as he has.
But this is Jagathy’s first State award for the best comedian though (the award was reintroduced in 2008 after being given way only once in 1972). He has won the State award for the second best actor twice – in 1991 ( Kilukkam and Apoorvam Chilar ) and 2002 ( Nizhalkuthu and Meesa Madhavan ).
