Rajan P Dev and Murali

2 talented actors that Malayalam Cinema lost to the 2009 Monsoons...2 who can never be replaced. This post is my way of paying tribute to the 2 actors who I have enjoyed watching on screen!

Murali was not just a cinema actor- he was also an intellectual who believed strongly in the leftist ideals and tried to apply them to his life. A stage actor, director and an articulate writer, Murali handled his different roles with his ease and played all of them extremely well! Murali came into limelight during the mid- 80's with one great performance after the other- in Hariharan's "Panchagni" and Lenin Rajendran's "Meenamasathile Sooryan". It did not take Malayalam Cinema long to recognize his talent and soon he became a part and parcel of Malayalam Cinema slipping in and out of a variety of characters and leaving his stamp behind on each of them. He particularly shined in roles scripted by Lohitadas (Aadharam, Maalayogam, Kaarunyam, Bharatham, Thoovalkottaram, Amaram, Venkalam, Chamayam, Valayam- to name a few) and Cherian Kalpakavadi (Lal Salaam, Aardhram, Ulladakkam). He was accepted as villain, supporting actor as well as a lead actor though he was not at all the conventional hero. He won Kerala State Awards for Best Actor 4 times (Aadharam, Kaanakkinavu, Thalolam, Neythukaran) and twice for the Best Supporting Actor (Amaram, Veeralippattu/ Pranayakaalam). He also won the coveted National Award for Best Actor in 2001 for Priyanandan's "Neythukaran". He was also the Chairman of the Sangeetha Nataka Academy and authored 5 books in total. He also won widespread acclaim for his stage production "Lanka Lakshmy". He had an unsuccessful stint with politics too when he contested for the Alappuzha Loksabha Constituency in 1999. Murali will be remembered for his powerhouse performances. He was truly an actor who could rise above the script and bring out the finer nuances of the character through his performance!

Rajan P Dev took Kerala by storm as Kochuvava, the protagonist in one of the most successful stage plays in Kerala history- SL Puram Sadanandan's "Kattukuthira". Unfortunately, he could not play the role in the film adaptation but he more than made up for it through a stellar performance in Thambi Kannamthanam's Mohanlal starrer "Indrajaalam" which was his first major role in Malayalam Cinema. It was one of those rare villain characters who outlived and outperformed the hero in spite of having a talented actor like Mohanlal playing the hero. Rajan has not had to look back ever since. Powerful characters followed one after the other- most of them were villainous roles but later Rajan made a clever and successful move to performing character roles and comedy roles as well. He even ended up playing titular roles like Pallivathukkal Thommichan and Thommanum Makkalum- the latter where his role was even more important than that of Mammootty's. He made a successful move to Tamil and Telugu Cinema and played menacing villain roles with great ease. Unfortunately for Rajan, his performances were not properly awarded though many of his characters are well etched out in the minds of movie goers (Sthalathe Pradhana Payyans, Ekalavyan, Commissioner, Sphadikam, Aniyan Bava Chettan Bava, The King, Junior Mandrake, Dada Saheb, Karumadikuttan, Sethuramaiyer CBI, Bharath Chandran IPS, Chandu Pottu, Chota Mumbai, Roudhram etc)

With the demise of these 2 great actors, Malayalam Cinema stands to lose yet again. Rajan P Dev and Murali along with Bharath Gopi and Oduvil Unnikrishnan in recent times are losses that have malnourished Malayalam Cinema of some of its best character actors! Even when we say that these are actors who cannot be replaced, we are still hoping and looking forward to a brand new set of talented actors coming up and taking their positions, at least partially. As the saying goes, the show must go on...