Ravindra Jain’s cordial relationship with Yesudas helped him make an entry into the Malayalam film industry. His first Malayalam movie was Sujatha (1977), produced by P. V. Gangadharan under the banner of Grihalakshmi productions and directed by Hariharan. Yesudas, who recommended Ravindra, sang two songs, ‘Thalipoo peelipoo..’ and ‘Kalidasante kavyabhavanaye..’ in the movie.
Noted singer Asha Bhosle also made her Malayalam debut by singing ‘Swayamvara subhadina..’ in the same movie. All the songs in ‘Sujatha’ including ‘Ashritha valsalane’ by Hemlata, became super hits.
Like the evergreen song ‘Gori Tera Gaon..’ from ‘Chitchor’, the ‘Thalipoo peelipoo’ also let the listeners soak themselves in a soulful and melodious tune and enable them to visualise the natural beauty and heavenly calmness of a rural village. Amazingly, Ravindra Jain, who was born with visual impairment, could sense Kerala’s greenery with his inner sight and captured it in his tunes.
Normally, the non-Malayali composers follow the technique of composing the tune first and adding lyrics afterwards. Mankombu Gopalakrishnan, who was the lyricist of ‘Sujatha’, shares an anecdote about Ravindra’s composing style. “The composing was held at his residence in Mumbai. He asked me to write a song as not a single tune was ready. When I completed each stanza I would read it to him until he by-hearted it. We completed the composing in three to four days. Yesudas and Hemlata were also present during the entire process. Since he was also a good lyricist, he respected lyricists and gave freedom to them. He impressed me greatly with his good manners and humility,” he said.
Ravindra Jain later did two more films in Malayalam, namely, ‘Sukham Sukhakaram’ and ‘Akasathinte Niram.'