In his speech after receiving the celebrated Dadasaheb Phalke award from President Draupadi Murmu in New Delhi on September 23, actor Mohanlal acknowledged that he by no means “dared to dream” that sooner or later he would win the nation’s highest cinematic honour. But his inventive journey of shut to 5 a long time with over 400 movies and 5 National Film Awards has been nothing wanting a dream. At the age of 65 and nonetheless going robust, he stays arguably probably the most influential actors of Malayalam cinema. A cultural idol, he has impressed a technology of writers and filmmakers to craft tales round him.

Born in Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, on May 21, 1960, to Viswanathan Nair, a former bureaucrat, and Santhakumari, he nurtured a ardour for appearing from his college days. In his sixth-grade on the Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School, Thiruvananthapuram, he performed the character of a 90-year-old within the play Computer Boy and received the very best actor award.

Mohanlal made his movie debut in 1978 on the age of 18 as a mentally challenged servant in Thiranottam whereas pursuing his undergraduate programme at Mahatma Gandhi College in Thiruvananthapuram. An experiment by a gaggle of his shut buddies and avid film buffs that included its director Ashok Kumar, the movie by no means had a full theatrical launch after it was hit by censorship points.

The turning level in his profession got here in 1980 when debutant director Fazil was trying to find a brand new face to play the menacing villain in his film Manjil Virinja Pookkal. With his overgrown, curly hair and a particular slanted shoulder, he introduced a recent perspective to the function of Narendran. Though the film featured the debut of actors Shankar and Poornima Jayaram in lead roles, the antagonist emerged because the speak of the city.

There was no trying again since then as he catapulted into the large league. He went on to redefine stardom within the Malayalam movie trade and dominated the panorama alongside Mammootty within the first twenty years of his profession.

He aligned with filmmakers who steered a brand new path in Malayalam cinema by combining business parts with distinctive story-telling views.

At the age of 26 in 1986, Mohanlal received his maiden Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his excellent portrayal of a struggling widespread man in filmmaker Sathyan Anthikad’s comedy drama T.P. Balagopalan M.A. Together, they made widespread films corresponding to Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam, Gandhinagar 2nd Street (1986), Nadodikattu (1987), and Varavelpu (1989) that helped him seal a place as a man-next-door.

Rise of a star

The yr 1986 was particular as he rode into super-stardom after taking part in the function of an underworld don with attribute ease within the box-office hit Rajavinte Makan directed by Thampi Kannanthanam. The excessive level in his profession got here in 1989 after he received the Special Mention on the National Film Award for “portraying a younger man’s agony and ache marvellously and in distinctive type” as Sethumadhavan in filmmaker Sibi Malayil’s cult-classic Kireedam. In 1991, he elevated his mastery over the craft by popping out with a delicate, however charming portrayal of a classical singer in Bharatham by Sibi Malayil for which he received his maiden National Film Award for Best Actor.

Despite having no formal coaching in Kathakali, Mohanlal’s character Kunjikuttan in acclaimed filmmaker Shaji N. Karun’s Vanaprastham, which mapped the identification wrestle of an artiste, earned him his second National Film Award for Best Actor in 1999. The actor had usually recalled in his interviews that Kathakali maestros, together with Kalamandalam Gopi, who acted within the film, helped him imbibe the nuances of the normal artwork kind.

Filmmakers have usually termed his appearing type “pure, spontaneous and intense”. “His course of is way of an internalisation of the character’s emotional territory. Be it the trembling of his arms as he dips his face into the belongings of his brother, who’s presumed lifeless in Bharatham or the climax scene of Dasaratham, each close-up pictures, he brings in a magic that can’t be replicated by anybody. He by no means carries the load of his characters on his shoulders,” says Sibi Malayil, who gave him one other stellar function as Sathyanathan, a convict on dying row in Sadayam, penned by the legendary creator M.T. Vasudevan Nair in 1992. His impeccable comedian timing inspired Priyadarshan, his pal from his early profession days, to carry laughter on the large display screen as seen in films corresponding to Boeing Boeing (1985), Vellanakalude Naadu (1988), Kilukkam (1991), and Thenmavin Kombath (1994), to call a number of. He crossed the borders to strive his luck in different industries, although it was short-lived. He performed the character of Anandan with aplomb in Mani Ratnam’s political drama Iruvar in 1997. In 2002, he joined arms with Ram Gopal Varma within the Hindi film Company.

Though he was criticised for the poor number of some scripts and repeated portrayal of larger-than-life roles after 2000, he bounced again to fulfill each the critics and his followers alike. Pulimurugan (2016) by Vysakh, and the Drishyam and Lucifer franchises, directed by Jeethu Joseph and Prithviraj Sukumaran, respectively, made it massive within the box-office.

Success tales

The yr 2025 appears to augur properly for Mohanlal with the back-to-back successes of Tharun Moorthy’s Thudarum and Hridayapoorvam by Sathyan Anthikad. He ventured into producing films a lot early in his profession and tasted each success and failure in equal measure. Some of his productions included His Highness Abdullah, Bharatham, and Mithunam, amongst others. His love for the stage noticed him appearing in two Sanskrit performs, Karnabharam and Chayamukhi. He burnt his fingers after his directorial debut Barroz, a 3D fantasy drama, tanked.

Mohanlal courted controversies that included the authorized wrangles pertaining to the alleged unlawful possession of ivory artefacts and the dissolution of the manager committee of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) led by him on August 27, 2024 following the discharge of the Ok. Hema Committee report on the issues confronted by ladies within the Malayalam movie trade. He expressed remorse for “a few of the political and social themes” in his L2: Empuraan, the second a part of the Lucifer franchise, following right-wing backlash.

Mohanlal’s wealthy repository of labor has earned him a number of accolades. In 2009, he was given the honorary title of Lieutenant-Colonel within the Territorial Army. He was given the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2019 by the Union authorities. He holds the excellence of being the second movie character from Kerala, after filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, to be honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award. An attention-grabbing combine of latest tasks awaits Mohanlal as he basks within the glory of the coveted recognition.

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