Mohan Thomas can never be left out of the list of great villain characters in Malayalam. It was a character that made such an impact on the audience. It has been two decades since Ratheesh, the actor who shone in Malayalam cinema both as a hero and as a counter-hero.
IV Shashi and T Damodaran are planning a big budget film in 1980 with Jayan as the hero and set in Kashmir. But a unique artist named Jayan died during the shooting of ‘Kollikaka’. Ratheesh is the hero that IV Shashi discovered following Jayan’s untimely demise.
Ratheesh entered the acting field with the movie ‘Vezhambal’ released in 1977. Rathish gained attention as an actor through KG George’s film ‘Ulkadal’. The actor became a superstar in Malayalam through the 1981 film ‘Thusharam’. It was following this movie that the audience started saying ‘Ratheesh following Jayan’. The period from 1981 to 1988 was the golden years of Ratheesh’s acting career. The star’s hits include ‘Oru Mukham Pala Mukham’, ‘Muhurtham 11.30’ and ‘John Jafar Janardhanan’. Ratheesh, who has played lead roles in many films like Ee Naad, Rajaj’s Son, Nayeyorakashals, took a break from films.
It was in 1990 that Ratheesh became active in villain roles from superstar parivesh. If it is usual for the film to be the villain, Ratheesh was seen changing from the hero role to the villain role. There too, Ratheesh made his mark. Ratheesh’s villainous roles in films like ‘Iyer the Great’, ‘Commissioner’, ‘Kashmiram’ and ‘Nirnyanam’ have garnered much attention. The most celebrated character in ‘Commissioner’ is Mohan Thomas.
Ratheesh acted in 158 films in Malayalam and Tamil languages. Ratheesh had also produced films like ‘Iyer the Great’, ‘Chakkikotha Shankaran’, ‘Black Mail’, ‘Revenge’ and ‘Ente Shud’. In 2001, Ratheesh also acted in serials. In the meantime, Ratheesh had plunged into a huge financial loss with the destruction of his farm in Kampath in Tamil Nadu. Fate did not allow the star who thought that life might be put on hold, although he became active once more in the film through villainous roles. Ratheesh passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 48.