Ekalavyan (film)

Ekalavyan is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Renji Panicker. It stars Suresh Gopi un the lead role, alongside an ensemble cast of Siddique, Geetha, Narendra Prasad, Vijayaraghavan, Ganesh Kumar, Janardhanan, Madhu, Maathu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Kuthiravattam Pappu and Devan.

Ekalavyan became a blockbuster and ran for 200 days in theatres. With consecutive box office hits from The News, Thalastaanam, Mafia and Ekalavyan, Suresh Gopi was catapulted to the status of a matinée idol. After the success of the 1994 blockbuster Commissioner in Andhra Pradesh, the film was released in Telugu as CBI Officer and became a commercial success. The film was remade in Hindi as Singham Returns.

Plot
Swami Amoorthananda, a psychotic holy godman with strong international connections, runs a powerful narcotics mafia in Kerala. He also has several connections within political circles and is also a good orator, where he draws many devotees from abroad and turns them into addicts.

A series of murders at Kovalam beach invites sharp criticism of the Kerala Government and the C.M Sreedharan decides to bring Madhavan, a Narcotics Wing officer, to investigate the case. Arriving in Kerala from New Delhi and assisted by a smart CI Sharath Chandran, Madhavan's aggressive way of investigation leads him to Amoorthananda's ashram, which creates a panic in the state.

Amoorthananda decides to eliminate Madhavan and also plans to topple Sreedharan by appointing his aide Velayudhan as the new CM. Upon the orders from Amoorthananda, Mahesh Nair, a notorious terrorist, arrives in Kerala and kills Sharath Chandran. An enraged Madhavan raids the ashram and botches Amoorthananda's plot to cause a series of bomb blasts in the state. Madhavan also kills Amoorthananda and Mahesh Nair, thus saving the state from the blasts and communal riots.

Filming
The film was shot mostly around Trivandrum and Kovalam and a large part was also shot in Kozhikode. The film was produced by P. V. Gangadharan under Grihalakshmi Productions. The cinematography was handled by Ravi K. Chandran and editing by L. Bhoominathan. Rajamani composed the musical score, while Boban was the art director.

Casting
Initially, Shaji Kailas and Renji Panicker had planned to sign Mammootty in the lead role and Suresh Gopi as the second lead role. After hearing the script, Mammootty told Shaji Kailas that he was not impressed with the dialogues. Due to this, Shaji Kailas decided to start the project with Suresh Gopi in the lead and the originally planned role for Suresh Gopi was later given to Siddique.

Box office
Ekalavyan became a commercial success and ran for 200 days in theatres. The film shattered many collection records and elevated Suresh Gopi to the status of the matinée idol and the second action superstar in Malayalam cinema after Jayan. It also helped him to fetch more action-oriented roles. After the success of the original version, along with Telugu and Tamil versions of Commissioner, Ekalavyan, which was actually released before Commissioner, was released in Telugu and Tamil as CBI Officer. The film had earned Suresh Gopi the title of Supreme Star in Andhra Pradesh.

Legacy
Ekalavyan was the second in a trilogy of films that established Suresh Gopi as the new superstar in the Malayalam cinema, the other two being Thalastaanam and Mafia. Suresh Gopi reprised his role of Madhavan IPS in 1995 film The King starring Mammootty and also written and directed by Shaji Kailas and Renji Panicker.

Remake
The film was remade in Hindi as Singham Returns and was directed by Rohit Shetty.