Mohanlal was only 26 when he acted in the flick. However, he pulled off the role of an underworld don with ease.
Mohanlal in 'Rajavinte Makan'. (Supplied)
On 17 July 1986, seeds were sown for the birth of a new superstar in Malayalam. On the day, Rajavinte Makan (The King’s Son) starring Mohanlal was released in theatres.
The tremendous success of this cult movie saw the rise of Mohanlal as a Superstar in Mollywood.
Interestingly, the veteran actor is still enjoying this status along with his contemporary Mammootty, the most sought-after star to date.
Mohanlal was only 26 when he acted in Rajavinte Makan. However, he pulled off the role of an underworld don with ease and elan.
A poster of ‘Rajavinte Makan’. (Supplied)
In fact, those were times when the Malayalam film industry was witnessing a sea change with the actors evincing interest in experimenting with roles that had various shades.
For example, Ratheesh — the actor who played the negative role in the gangster drama — was playing a hero earlier.
Directed by the late Thampi Kannanthanam, Rajavinte Makan had a theatrical run for more than 100 days and was remade in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada languages.
It had an ensemble cast, including Ambika, Suresh Gopi, and Mohan Jose.
The base story was about the feud between gangster Vincent Gomas (Mohanlal) with home minister Krishnadas (Ratheesh).
Suresh Gopi, another versatile actor in Mollywood, acted as the accomplice (Kumar) of Vincent Gomas. Similarly, Mohan Jose played another accomplice (Peter).
Ambika, the female lead, donned the role of Nancy, an advocate. She is an orphan and a single mother who loses her job due to Vincent Gomas. But they become friends later.
Mohanlal and Ambika in the ‘Rajavinte Makan’ poster. (Supplied)
Krishnadas wins over Vincent Gomas through his political power due to which the gangster loses his wealth and decides to seek revenge.
He entrusts the job to Kumar and Peter, his trusted men. But they both get killed during their mission to murder Krishnadas.
The loss of his trusted friends makes Gomas angry. He visits the residence of Krishnadas and opens fire, thus killing many policemen and Krishnadas’s political aides.
The twist in the story comes when Gomas is about to kill Krishnadas. Nancy begs for Krishnadas’s life and reveals that he is the father of her child.
Gomas gets shocked on hearing this. The cops take advantage of the situation and shoot him down. As Nancy stares at a picture of Vincent Gomas, the movie ends.
“My phone number is 2255,” Vincent Gomas tells Nancy and writes it on the calendar fixed on the wall at her home.
This iconic dialogue became so popular with the youth of that generation that they used to render it on several occasions in real life.
The 100-day poster of ‘Rajavinte Makan’. (Supplied)
Indeed, Mohanlal used “2255” to register many of his luxury cars. However, he used “2020” for his Toyota Vellfire.
Another iconic dialogue delivered by Mohanlal in the movie (translated) goes like this: “Raju Mon once asked me who my father is. I said he is a King. Now, he teases me by calling me a Prince. Yes, I am a Prince; an underworld Prince; son of a King.”
These popular dialogues are still fresh in the minds of many people. All these factors made the movie a super hit, 37 years ago.
Not many know that screenwriter Dennis Joseph originally wrote Vincent Gomas’s character for Mammootty, but it was eventually played by Mohanlal as the former turned down the role.
After the death of director Thampi Kannanthanam in 2018, Mohanlal recalled that Kannanthanam had expressed his interest in remaking the film. But they couldn’t do it.
“After more than 25 years, we thought of it for years and tried making it a reality — with the same director and cast. However, due to his ill health, we had to keep those plans aside,” Mohanlal said.
An old photo of Mohanlal (L) and Dennis Joseph. (Supplied)
Rajavinte Makan was written by eminent scriptwriter Dennis Joseph who died in 2021. The writer was instrumental in giving superhits to Mohanlal and Mammootty.
Once, he stated that director Joshiy asked him to discuss stories with Thampi Kannanthanam as he was searching for a story for his new movie.
It was how their friendship began. Later, they teamed up for many movies that became superhits.
Their works include Vazhiyorakazchakal(1987), Rajavinte Makan (1986), Indrajaalam (1989), and Bhoomiyile Rajakkanmar (1987).
Rajavinte Makan had a strong script penned by Dennis Joseph. The portrayal of the antihero as the central character was completely new for people of those times.
After the death of Dennis Joseph, an emotional Mohanlal wrote: ”Dennis was the king of script writing and I was fortunate enough to portray some of those memorable princes he created. He never expected anything in return, but always his everything behind that graceful smile”.
Director Thampi Kannanthanam. (Supplied)
Rajavinte Makan played a key role in transforming the versatile actor into a bankable actor.
Indeed, Dennis Joseph once claimed on a TV channel that Pathamudayam (1985) was the first superhit movie of Mohanlal.
Nevertheless, film buffs and even common audiences always considered Rajavinte Makan as the most popular flick of Mohanlal!
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