Ekalavyan (film)
Ekalavyan is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language action crime thriller film directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Renji Panicker, starring Suresh Gopi in the lead role along with Siddique, Geetha, Narendra Prasad, Vijayaraghavan, Ganesh Kumar, Janardhanan, Madhu, Maathu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Kuthiravattam Pappu, and Devan in other pivotal roles. The plot follows police officer Madhavan, who is hired by the CBI to investigate Godman Amoorthananda, who suspected of being involved in narcotics and the murder of a few people. The film was a blockbuster and ran for more than 100 days in theatres. With Consecutive box office hits  from "The News", "Thalastaanam", "Mafia" and "Ekalavyan" lead actor Suresh Gopi was catapulted to the status of a matinee idol . After the success of the 1994 blockbuster "Commissioner" in Andhra Pradesh", Ekalavyan" was dubbed in Telugu and released as "CBI Officer" which was also a commercial success. The movie is said to be an inspiration for the 2014 Hindi blockbuster "Singham Returns". Plot. Swami Amoorthananda (Narendra Prasad), a psychotic holy godman with strong international connections, also runs a powerful narcotic drug mafia in the state. He also has several connections within political circles. A good orator, the Swami, also draws  many devotees from abroad, and many are slowly turned into addicts. A series of murders at Kovalam beach invites sharp criticism of the govt and the chief minister (Madhu) decides to bring a new head to the state narcotics wing. Madhavan IPS (Suresh Gopi), thus, arrives in Kerala from New Delhi and is assisted by Sharath Chandran (Siddique), a smart CI of Kerala police. Madhavan's aggressive way of investigation leads him to the ashram of Swami Amoorthananda, which creates a panic in the state. Swami decides to eliminate Madhavan and also plans to topple the CM by appointing his  aide, Velayudhan (Rajan P. Dev), as the new CM. Mahesh Nair (Devan), a notorious terrorist, arrives in Kerala upon the order of Swami. He kills Sharath Chandran, which forces Madhavan to react violently. Madhavan raids the ashram and spoils Swami's plot to cause a series of bomb blasts in the state. In the climax, Madhavan kills Swami and Mahesh Nair, thus saving the state from a series of blasts and communal riots. Production. Filming. The film was shot mostly in and around Trivandrum and Kovalam. A large part was also shot in Kozhikode. It was produced by P. V.  Gangadharan for Grihalakshmi Productions. The camera was done by Ravi K. Chandran and editing by L. Bhoominathan. Rajamani did the background score, and Boban was the art director. Casting. Initially, director Shaji Kailas and scriptwriter Renji Panicker had planned to rope in Mammootty to do the lead role in this flick. Suresh Gopi was also part of the initial star cast, but his role was that of the second hero. But after hearing the script, Mammootty told Shaji Kailas that he is not impressed with the dialogues. A disappointed Shaji Kailas decided to start the movie with Suresh Gopi in  the lead, and the originally planned role for Suresh was later given to Siddique. Surprisingly, the crime thriller shattered many collection records and marked the birth of a new superstar in Mollywood - Suresh Gopi. This is also the rise of a second action hero superstar ever in Malayalam Cinema after Jayan. The mammoth success of Ekalavyan helped Suresh Gopi to fetch more action-oriented roles. Box office. The film was a commercial success and ran for 200 days in theaters. After the success of the original version along with Telugu and Tamil versions of Commissioner (film), the Telugu and Tamil  versions of the film "Ekalavyan" which was actually released before "Commissioner" hit the theaters under the title "CBI Officer". This movie had earned Suresh Gopi the title of "Supreme Star" in Andhra Pradesh. Remake. This movie was remade in Hindi as Singham Returns in 2014 starring Ajay Devgan