Jayasurya To Play Legendary Actor Sathyan In Biopic

A biopic of actor Sathyan, popularly known as Sathyan Master, regarded as one of the greatest actors in Malayalam cinema, is in production. Produced by Vijay Babu’s Friday Film House and directed by newcomer Ratheesh Raghu Nandan, the film has Jayasurya portraying the legendary actor.  The biopic is written by BT Anil Kumar and KG Santosh.

Announcing the news, Jayasurya shared a fan-made image of him as Sathyan Master on Facebook. Ann Augustine, the State-award winning actress last seen in a cameo in Solo (2017), is a part of the film’s cast. The team made the official announcement in Thiruvananthapuram’s VJT hall, at an event organised by Sathyan Foundation to commemorate the 48th death anniversary of the late actor.

Sathyan, born on 9 November 1912 as Sathyaneshan Nadar, served in the British army as a Subedar Major in Manipur, Myanmar and Malaya during World War II, and later, joined Travancore Police as an inspector. He was the head of Alappuzha at the time of the communist uprising in Punnapra-Vayalar. A seasoned stage artiste, he made his acting debut through Thyagaseema, an unreleased film in 1951. His first film that released was Aatmasakhi (1952). He played the male protagonist in Ramu Karyat’s Neelakuyil (1954), the first Malayalam film to win Rajat Kamal. He was the first recipient of Kerala State Film Award for best male actor (Kadalpalam, 1969). He won the award again for Karakanakadal (1972). His notable films include Odayil Ninnu (1965), Yakshi (1968), Chemmeen (1965) and Vazhve Maayam (1970). He and Prem Nazir dominated Malayalam film industry in the 60s. Sathyan was 59 when he died from leukemia on 15 June 1971 in Madras.

Last year, Jayasurya had portrayed late footballer VP Sathyan in a biopic, Captain, directed by Prajesh Sen. The 40-year-old actor had also won a State award for best actor for his performance in Captain and Njan Marykutty, directed by Ranjith Shankar, where he played a trans-woman. Njan Marykutty is the closing film of the 10th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Film Festival that concludes today.