Obituary: 1970’s Malayalam film star Ravi Kumar excelled in bad boy vibes

There was a time when Malayalam movies wanted a different kind of hero.

Someone who could be quite different to the all-for-romance characters that Prem Nazir specialised in, often in multiple new releases happening the same week.

No, at a certain point in the early to late 1970s, Malayalam audiences wanted their heroes to have a shade of darkness associated with the person on the screen. Ravi Kumar, who died today, provided quite a bit of that bad boy persona. With a cigarette, unbuttoned shirt, unwieldy hair, heavily flared trousers, and even leather jackets. (In Malayalam movies, to signify a certain degree of coolness, you had to have those leather jackets, even when the conditions are hot and humid…)

Ravi Kumar showed up in multiple movies, with the characters he kept on playing having a similar theme – they were up to no good. Even if they did manage to turn into better selves, it was always sort of short-lived. Sort of in the final reel, when it was all too late. Ravi Kumar certainly did play to the hilt when handed out these never-gooder types in contrast to whatever the actual heroes were doing.

There was also a short span when Ravi Kumar himself did the lead roles, primarily in the early movies directed by I.V. Sasi. He’s there, of course, in ‘Avalude Ravukal’, which for various reasons was an instant blockbuster and graduated into being a cult classic in the pantheon of Malayalam movies.    

The one thing that Ravi Kumar will always be associated with are the songs featuring him, most notably ‘En Swaram Poovidum…’ from ‘Anupallavi’, as well as ‘Abhinivesham’s’ ‘Maaricheke Maaricheke…’ in the mid-1970s.

But that was just about the peak for Ravi Kumar, as the Jayan storm swept over everything in the world of Malayalam movies. And which in a span of about 3 years rewrote all that had happened how these films were conceived and made. Ravi Kumar did have his moments, playing second fiddle to Jayan. But you could sense that his time in the top echelons were getting over.

Even in that brief period, he did provide for enough memories. And as the person who lent a face to some enduring songs Malayalam films have been blessed with. All done with a smirk or a sneer – Ravi Kumar was all about attitude…