Ah Padmarajan and the 80s.
Jayaram started his career with Padmarajan — and what a beginning that was. Aparan , Moonnam Pakkam , Innale — films that didn’t just showcase talent, but revealed a certain grace in storytelling, a depth in characters, and an emotional honesty that Malayalam cinema would come to desperately miss. Padmarajan wasn’t just a filmmaker; he was a visionary. Way ahead of his time. His characters were flawed, vulnerable, and real. His women weren’t props. His men weren’t loud caricatures. He explored sexuality, grief, guilt, loneliness — all with a subtlety and courage rarely seen, even now. But he died too soon. And something in Malayalam cinema cracked. The '90s came in like a bad bad hangover. Many of the same actors who worked with giants like Padmarajan, Bharathan, and KG George found themselves in films that were loud, lazy, and depressingly regressive. Jayaram and Mohanlal — once faces of sensitive, complex roles — got reduced to one-dimensional, chauvinistic heroes in factory-...