Irupatham Noottandu is a 1987 Indian Malayalam-language gangster film directed by K. Madhu, written by S. N. Swamy and produced by M. Mani. It stars Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, and Ambika. The film's music was composed by Shyam. The plot follows Sagar Alias Jacky, a maverick youth who runs a gold smuggling racket for Sekharankutty, the son of the Chief Minister of Kerala. Their relationship stains after the latter brings narcotics into the business. The film was released on 14 May 1987. It performed well at the box office and became the highest-grossing Malayalam film until then, grossing more than ₹2 crore at the box office and ran for over 200 days in theatres. It was remade in Kannada as Jackey and in Telugu as 20va Sathabdam. Devaraj portrayed Shekarankutty in both films. The film also has a spiritual sequel, Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded, released in 2009 and directed by Amal Neerad with Mohanlal reprising his role.
Plot
The story is about Sagar Alias Jacky and his accomplice Sekharankutty. Ashwathy is a reporter for a news magazine looking to investigate the connection between politics and crime in Kerala. She is drawn to the life of Sagar Alias Jacky who runs a clandestine gold smuggling business for Sekharankutty, son of the Chief Minister of the state. Jacky is an enigmatic character who stops the smuggling business from growing because of ethical issues with narcotics, and spends his personal time. Ashwathy publishes a sensational article connecting Jacky to the Chief Minister, and pushes the uneasy relationship between Sekharankutty and Jacky into an open confrontation.
Cast
Mohanlal as Sagar Alias Jacky
Suresh Gopi as Shekharan Kutty
Ambika as Aswathy Varma
Urvashi as Jyothi
Jagathy Sreekumar as Ashokan / Chanakyan
Santhosh as Lawrence
Prathapachandran as Chief Minister Inchakadu Ramakrishna Pillai
Writer S. N. Swamy got the idea for the film from a photograph featured in an English-language Sunday magazine published from Calcutta. Swami recalled in an interview that it was the time when mafia bosses had a glorified image in the country after the nationalemergency period in India. That was the time when public began to learn about Bombay-based mafia leaders such as Haji Mastan, Yusuf Patel, Varadarajan Mudaliar among others. The magazine had an article on Mastan and a photograph featuring much respected actor Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Banu touching Mastan's feet for giving pranāma. It was shocking for Swami, he never imagined a mafia leader would be respected as such. It inspired the plot for Irupatham Noottandu and the character Sagar Alias Jacky. The lengthy climax of the film was shot in a single day. Vipindas was the cinematographer.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Shyam and lyrics was written by Chunakkara Ramankutty.
Box office
The film was released on 14 May 1987. It performed well at the box office and became the highest-grossing Malayalam film until then. The film grossed more than ₹2 crore at the box office and ran for over 200 days in theatres.
