The discussion is about how Mohanlal and Mammootty lost their magic touch in film and Dileep scooped it from them still on. But the real men in demand were outside the main headlines. They are Jagathy Sreekumar and Cochin Haneefa.

With 20 films on credit Jagathy Sreekumar tops the artists in both popularity and quality. He was brilliant as Bhageerathan Pillai the miser and Shylock of Chekku village in 'MEESA MAADHAVAN'. Jagathy a comedian of higher caliber is in demand through out the year. This has been the case for the last 20 years. He cannot be chucked out of Malayalam cinema that easily though some quarters tried it some time back. The artist's organization itself made Jagathy apologize for some remarks he made against some bad practices in the industry. Whatever be the real motive behind that moves, it did not affect the chances of Jagathy in films. In fact, some time back he had accused of some vested interests trying to oust him out on the basis of cast. It failed. Thanks we still have an unmatched artist, Jagathy. He is literally pulled from all sides by the producers and is on constant move from one location to another location. He still maintains his humbleness. He has no mobile phone, no secretary to assist, no posh cars. (His is an old car that was used by his father late Jagathy N K Achary the script writer!) and is loved by kerala audience.

The latest Mohanlal film CHATURANGAM had shown Jagathy in the title song instead of the hero! Almost all his roles this year were highly applauded by the audience. KUBERAN, PAKALPPOORAM, MALAYALIMAMANU VANAKKAM, SAVITRIYUDE ARANJANAM, THANDAVAM were some of the important films he did roles that attracted attention.

Cochin Haneefa who graduated from villain roles to comedy roles had 15 films to his credit in 2002. His best was RAVUNNI I KANNAKI. KUNHIKKOONAN gave another memorable role to Haneefa. Kalabhavana Mani had a good innings in Tamil and Malayalam films this year. He had ten films in Malayalam. The latest film that released at the fag end of the year VAALKANNADI had Mani in the lead with Gheethu Mohan Das as his heroine.

Harisree Asokan the third most wanted comedian had 12 films with MEESA MADHAVAN making him dearer to the audience. Salim Kumar, Innocent, Indrans, Mala, are the other comedians who entertained with their sense of humor.