The 40th death anniversary of late Malayalam actor Jayan proved that there are no limits to creativity and imagination when it comes to paying tribute to an icon. Paintings, film festivals, re-watching his old movies, fans from across the state did something unique to remember the late actor. Welcome Talents, a fashion production company in Kerala, too, did something creative. They revisited one of the favourite on-screen couples in the Malayalam film industry — Jayan and Seema. The team recreated some of the popular scenes of Jayan and Seema through a series of black and white pictures.
“People in the '80s loved the on-screen chemistry of Prem Nazir-Sheela and Jayan-Seema. Besides, there were not many good pictures of the couple on the Internet. So we decided to honour the late actor by trying to bring back the iconic on-screen couple through photographs,” said Mohammad Suhail, the photographer who shot the images. Models Nikhil Joy and Fessy posed as Jayan and Seema respectively.
Interestingly, the team sourced the Jayan costumes — the bell-bottom pants and shirts — from Shibu Thammanam, the costume designer for Mammootty in Venicile Vyapari. Incidentally, the 2011 movie features a remix version of the popular romantic song, Kannum Kannum Thammil Thammil, from the 1980 film, Angadi (1980), which stars Jayan and Seema. In Venicile Vyapari, Mammootty and Poonam Bajwa reprised the roles of Jayan and Seema in the song.
Watch: 'Kannum Kannum' remix song from Venicile Vyapari
“When we chose the costume, however, we were careful not to reduce Jayan to a comical version, the typical red shirt-white trousers of Jayan, as seen in comedy sketches. We ensured to make it a realistic portrayal of the actor,” added Suhail.
The team recreated one scene from the 1980 movie Chaakara, directed by PG Viswambharan.
“For the other images, we used a few romantic poses of the ‘80s on-screen couples,” said Suhai.
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Make-up artiste Daniya turned Nikhil and Fessy into Jayan-Seema, while Pattanam Arts did the hair and styling. The team decided to do the photoshoot on November 13, completed the shoot the next day, on November 14, and released them on Jayan’s death anniversary, November 16, Monday. Several fans of Jayan and popular Facebook pages shared the images widely on social media.