IFFK 2022: Photo exhibition on yesteryear actor Sathyan bears a picture connected to the history of The Hindu in Thiruvananthapuram city

A photograph shows Sathyan’s mortal remains being carried out of an aircraft by actor Sankaradi, filmmaker Ramu Kariat, film producer M.O. Joseph and others in 1971..

An exhibition of photographs from the cinematic career of yesteryear Malayalam actor Sathyan at Tagore Theatre as part of the ongoing 27th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) here has a picture connected to the history of The Hindu in Thiruvananthapuram city.

The photograph shows the actor’s mortal remains being carried out of an aircraft by actor Sankaradi, filmmaker Ramu Kariat, film producer M.O. Joseph and others in 1971. The Dakota aircraft, owned by The Hindu and used to ferry the daily newspaper from Chennai to Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai in those times, was chartered to bring the late actor’s body to the city.

Sathyan, a legendary actor from the early years of Malayalam cinema, had passed away at the comparatively young age of 58 in Madras on 15 June, 1971 following a long battle with leukemia.

The other images in the series show the Thiruvananthapuram airport teeming with a crowd that had gathered to pay their last respects to the actor. The exhibition also has a display of 110 photographs from various periods of Sathyan’s career as part of his 110th birth anniversary. Photographer R. Gopalakrishnan curated the exhibition.

The large crowd that had gathered at the Thiruvananthapuram airport to pay their last respects to actor Sathyan in 1971.

A police officer-turned actor, Sathyan’s career in cinema spanned hardly two decades from the early 1950s to the 1970s. However, during the rather short period, he essayed a variety of roles that won him a legion of fans. He has been part of some landmark films of Malayalam cinema, including Neelakuyil (1954), Anubhavangal Palichakal, Chemmeen, Yakshi, Sharashayya, Ashwamedham, Mudiyanaya Puthran and Odayil Ninnu.