IN 1968 when Janardhanan Nair was a second year Commerce student in Neyyatinkara College an English professor, Sreevaraham Balakrishnan, selected him to act in a play. “The professor saw some potential in me. I was tall, fair and handsome.” Janardhanan’s next chance came when the Vayanasala in Thiruvananthapuram staged a play in honour of Balarama Varma, the Maharaja of Travancore.
Janardhanan played the role of a painter alongside stalwarts T R Sukumaran Nair and P K Venukuttan Nair. After the play the actors were introduced to the king. “The Maharaja told me that I acted well. This was a huge boost for me. My attitude towards acting changed that moment and I began to take it seriously.” In 1970 Janardhanan heard that the crew of the film ‘Chembarathi’ was having discussions at the Magnet Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram where the aspiring actor was a regular. At the insistence of the bartender Janaradhanan wrote a letter to S K Nair, the producer. In it he said, “A Nair is waiting for you outside. If you have the time can you meet me?” Janaradhanan sat in the lobby calmly drinking a glass of rum.
After a while a man came out wearing a half-sleeve shirt and white mundu. He approached Janardhanan and said, “What are you doing?” Janardhanan said, “I am having a glass of rum.” When he heard this S K Nair burst out laughing. “I wish I had met you earlier.
Unfortunately, the casting is over.” Janardhanan replied, “No problem. I am glad to have made your acquaintance.” Nair did not forget him. He hired Janardhanan to work as a manager for the film.
“Nair Sir told me I would understand what production was all about while doing the job. And he was right.” In 1971, Nair started an office in Chennai for his company, New India Films. Janardhanan was once again appointed the manager.
For various reasons he would go regularly to the office of the Film Chamber of Commerce where, one day, director Sethu Madhavan saw him.
“He asked me if I was interested in films.” Janardhanan was given a role as Prem Nazir’s friend in ‘Aadhyathe Katha’. “My character was close to Prem Nazir.
Whenever he faced any problem I would try to help,” he says.
Janardhanan’s first scene was with N Govindan Kutty, the wellknown villain of that time. He had to stare intensely at Govindan Kutty and say, “If you have the courage step forward.” When Janardhanan said this, his whole body was trembling! “It was impossible to look at Govindan Kutty and not feel nervous. He was a huge fellow with a thick moustache.” The scene was okayed in the first take itself.
Thereafter, Janardhanan acted in many films. After a few years, there came a time when the reigning villains Jos Prakash, K P Ummer and Govindan Kutty opted for character roles. “I stepped into the gap and became a villain.” He played the v i llain in about 200 films.
“All I did was beat up people and rape women!” Janardhanan remembers a funny incident that happened during the shooting of ‘Sathyam’ in a scene where he was supposed to rape actress Ambika. “When I jumped on top of her the bed broke and both of us fell down!” Because of his negative image, at outdoor shoots women avoided talking to him. “Even though I was a married man and had children the audience believed so deeply in the characters I played that they hated me,” he says.
Janardhanan’s career moved forward smoothly. In 1988 he got the role of Ousephachen in ‘Oru CBI Diary Kurippu’. That unearthed his hidden talent - that of a comedian. “Thereafter I began to play comic roles.” Hundreds of films came his way and his career was going great guns when in 2004, his wife Vijaylakshmi, fell ill.
A doctor suggested a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
“But Vijaylakshmi refused and opted for ayurvedic treatment,” he says. After a while her condition worsened. When an MRI was eventually done she had cancer in the ovary, intestines and the uterus. It was too late.
Soon she died, leaving behind two married daughters, who live in Dubai and Sharjah.
In his huge house at Vennala where he stays with a grandson who is in Class XI in Choice school, Janardhanan is supervising the cutting of the grass on his lawn. “I believe in God,” he says. “I believe our destiny is decided when we are born. What we plan never works out. We have no option but to follow our fate.”
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