Ekalavyan (film)

Swami Amoorthananda (Narendra Prasad), a psychotic holy godman with strong international connections also runs a powerful narcotic drug mafia in the state. He also has several connections within political circles. A good orator, Swami also draws a large number of devotees from abroad and many are slowly turned into addicts. A series of murders at Kovalam beach invites sharp criticism of the govt and the chief minister (Madhu) decides to bring a new head to the state narcotics wing. Madhavan IPS (Suresh Gopi), thus arrives in Kerala from New Delhi, and is assisted by Sharath Chandran (Siddique), a smart CI of Kerala police. Madhavan's aggressive way of investigation leads him to the ashram of Swami Amoorthananda, which creates a panic in the state. Swami decides to eliminate Madhavan and also plans to topple the CM by appointing his aide, Velayudhan (Rajan P. Dev) as the new CM. Mahesh Nair (Devan), a notorious terrorist arrives in Kerala upon the order of Swami. He kills Sharath Chandran, which forces Madhavan to react violently. Madhavan raids the ashram and spoils Swami's plot to cause a series of bomb blasts in the state. In the climax, Madhavan kills Swami and Mahesh Nair, thus saving the state from a series of blasts and communal riots.

• Suresh Gopi as Madhavan I.P.S.
• Siddique as CI Sharath Chandran
• Narendra Prasad as Swami Amoorthananda
• Vijayaraghavan as Cheradi Skariah
• K. B. Ganesh Kumar as Unni Joseph Mulaveedan
• Geetha as Maya Menon
• Maathu as Malu
• Janardhanan as Krishnan
• Madhu as Chief Minister Sreedharan
• Jagathy Sreekumar as SI Achuthan Nair
• Rajan P. Dev as Home Minister Velayudhan
• Devan as Mahesh Nair
• Maniyanpilla Raju as Vallapuzha Chandran
• Augustine as SI Geevarghese
• Kuthiravattam Pappu as Govindan Kutty
• Chithra as Hemambaram
• K. P. A. C. Azeez as IG Devadas
• Kunchan as Keshavan
• Sadiq as Anto
• T. S. Krishnan as Salim Khan
• Renji Panicker as Airport Passenger
• Suma Jayaram as Susanna John
• Usharani as Mathaji

The film was shot mostly in and around Kovalam. A large part was also shot in Kozhikode. It was produced by P. V. Gangadharan for Grihalakshmi Productions. The camera was done by Ravi K. Chandran and editing by L. Bhoominathan. Rajamani did the background score and Boban was the art director.

The film was a commercial success and ran for 150 days in theaters.[2]

Initially, director Shaji Kailas and scriptwriter Renji Panicker had planned to rope in Mammootty to do the lead role in this flick. Suresh Gopi was also the part of the initial star cast, but his role was that of the second hero. But after hearing the script, Mammootty told Shaji Kailas that he is not impressed with the dialogues. A disappointed Shaji Kailas decided to start the movie with Suresh Gopi in the lead, and the originally planned role for Suresh was later given to Siddique. Surprisingly, the crime thriller shattered many collection records, and also marked the birth of a new superstar in Mollywood - Suresh Gopi.This is also the rise of a second action hero superstar ever in Malayalam Cinema after Jayan. The mammoth success of Ekalavyan helped Suresh Gopi to fetch more action-oriented roles.[4]

Singham Returns was based on a 1993 Malayalam movie Ekalavyan. [5]

• Ekalavyan on IMDb