Mohanlal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Vishwanathan Mohanlal | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Padmashri Mohanlal |
|||||||||||
| Born | Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair May 21, 1960  Thiruvananthapuram, India |
||||||||||
| Other name(s) | Lalu, Lalettan | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1978 - Present | ||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Suchitra | ||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair (born May 21, 1960), is a two time National award winning Indian actor and producer who mostly works in Malayalam films, a part of Indian Cinema. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor by the Indian Government in 2001 for his contributions to Indian cinema. He is the current General Secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). He is the only actor in Malayalam cinema to be awarded the best actor award (Kerala State film awards) in six times (1986, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2005 and 2007). In addition he got a special jury award for acting in 1988 from the Kerala government (Kerala State film awards).
Mohanlal is best known for his roles in the Malayalam movies of the late 80's and the early 90's, particularly Balagoplan in T.P.Balagopalan M.A, Sedhumadhavan in Kireedam, Jayakrishnan in Thoovanathumbikal, Muralidharan in Varavelpu, Vishnu in Chithram, Mangalasherry Neelakantan in Devasuram and Sunny in Manichitrathazhu. In recent times, film-makers have used his popularity in Kerala to cast him in super-human roles. Some of his notable portrayals in this genre were Aadu Thoma in Spadikam, Jagannadhan in Aaram Thamburan, Induchoodan in Narasimham and Mullankolli Velayudhan in Naran. However he is more famous in Kerala than outside the Malayalam speaking world, though he has acted in critically acclaimed Bollywood movies like Company and Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag and the famous Kollywood movie Iruvar. It was while Mohanlal was acting in Iruvar that its director Mani Ratnam said about Mohanlal, "Hereafter, I will never work with a man of whom I am a fan. I often forgot to say 'Cut' in Iruvar."[citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] Early life (1960-1977)
Mohanlal (lalettan)was born in Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala State (India), to Mr.Vishwanathan Nair, a government employee, and Mrs.Santhakumari and later shifted to his father's place, Mudavanmugal in Thiruvananthapuram. He attended the local school in Mudavanmugal and later enrolled into the Model School, Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum). An average student at school, he started his association with the world of acting very early, when he used to participate in school-plays. In the sixth grade, young Mohanlal was chosen the best actor in school, an award that was usually bagged by tenth graders[1].
After schooling, he went to Mahatma Gandhi College, Thiruvananthapuram for his Bachelor of Commerce degree. During this time he continued to act in college productions and won best actor awards[1]. He made friends with a group of fellow-students, who were passionate about theatre and feature films[citation needed]. They were instrumental in getting him his first breakthrough and some of them, notably Priyadarshan and Raju, went on to become popular movie directors and actors.
[edit] Film career
- Further information: Mohanlal: Filmography
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
[edit] Early years (1978-1985)
His introduction to movies was automatic, when his friends combined to establish a movie company, Bharath Cine Group and began shooting a film titled Thiranottam, which was in 1978. Mohanlal was given a small comic role. The film ran into trouble with the Censor Board and was never released.
His first breakthrough came in 1980, at the age of 20, when a Malayalam production house Navodaya wanted to make a film with new artistes in leading roles. Mohanlal's friends sent his photographs to Navodya productions. He was auditioned and selected for the role of Narendran, the antagonist, in Manjil Virinja Pookkal.
He had no dearth of opportunities after this and he played roles of gradually increasing importance in a number of movies in the following years. In the year 1983, he is credited in more than 25 feature films. Uyarangalil, a story of cheating and deception, written by noted script-writer M.T.Vasudevan Nair and directed by I. V. Sasi was a highlight of this period of his career. He then expanded into comic roles in his director-friend and college mate Priyadarshan's debut Poochakkoru Mookkuthi.
[edit] Golden period (1986-1995)
Malayalam cinema was entering its golden age at this time with films characterised by detailed screenplays, lucid narration and fresh ideas that narrowed the gap between art and commercial films[2]. As a young talent on the rise, Mohanlal obtained roles that gave him ample scope to display a wide range of emotions and started some very fruitful associations with some of the best directors and writers in Malayalam cinema.
The year 1986 was one of his best years. Sathyan Anthikad's T.P.Balagopalan M.A got him his first Kerala State award for best actor. His role of an underworld don in Rajavinte Makansaw the emergence of Mohanlal as one of the leading stars in Malayalam cinema along with the other popular Malayalam actor, Mammootty. In the same year, he played an asylum inmate in Thalavattom, a harassed house-owner in Sanmanassu Ullavarku Samadhanam, a journalist in M.T.Vasudevan Nair's Panchagni, a farm owner in love in Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal and an unemployed youth forced to become a Goorkha in Gandhi Nagar 2nd street.
His association with the writer-director combination of Sreenivasan and Sathyan Anthikkad, who excelled in making socially hard-hitting satires, resulted in films such as Nadodikkattu, in which he played an unemployed youth and Varavelpu, in which he played a Gulf returnee who is welcomed back home to greedy relatives and a state with a hostile climate for entrepreneurs. Director Priyadarshan's musical comedies, notably Chithram and Kilukkam had him playing the typical Indian romantic hero and increased his popularity among the teenage movie-goers.
At his peak, he portrayed some of the best author backed roles in Malayalam cinema[citation needed] in movies written by Padmarajan and M.T. Vasudevan Nair. Thoovanathumbikal in which he portrayed a person torn between his twin love interests, broke many stereotypes in Indian films such as the leading man falling in love with a second woman immediately after he is rejected by the first. Amrithamgamaya was about a man who ends up at the house of a boy whom he had unknowingly killed in college during a ragging session.
The combination of writer Lohithadas and director Sibi Malayil is considered to have produced some of his most haunting roles. His role of Sethu Madhavan, who dreams of becoming a police officer but ends up as a criminal in the film Kireedam became a classic tragedy in Indian cinema. It got him the Special Jury award at the annual National awards. Another role of a classical singer who is burdened by the jealousy and final death of his singer brother in Bharatham helped him bag the Best actor award at the same awards next year.
The 90s saw him continuing his success with more entertainers like His Highness Abdullah, where he played a Muslim disguised as a Nambodiri Brahmin to assassinate a king. His other notable commercial movies during this period such as Midhunam, Minnaram, Thenmavin kombath continued the tradition of the 80s with neat well-written scripts and a rich set of characters. Devaasuram, written by Ranjith and directed by I. V. Sasi was particularly noted for Mohanlal's portrayal of a proud, rich and brash young man who is slowly humbled by a chain of events. Director Bhadran's Spadikam became a cult classic for the revolutionary way in which the stunts were picturised[citation needed]. Critically acclaimed films were few in number during this period and were mostly semi-entertainers like Manichitrathazhu, which had the female lead Shobhana bagging a National award for best actress.
[edit] Later years (1996-Present)
During this period of his career, film makers cashed in on the immense popularity that Mohanlal enjoyed in Kerala by portraying him as an invincible larger-than-life hero in movies. Movies like Aaram Thamburan, Narasimham, Naran used this superstar image to great effect and became blockbusters .. After their initial novelty, these films faced criticism from most quarters over their lack of realism and for creating movies around Mohanlal[citation needed]. Priyadarshan's Kalapani, an account of India's freedom struggle against the British that focused on the Cellular prisons of Andaman islands and Lohithadas's Kanmadam were some of his notable films during the late 90's. In 1997 Mohanlal's film Guru directed by Rajiv Anchal(which was based on communalism in Kerala) was selected by the Government of India as official entry for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
It was at this time that Mohanlal started getting noticed outside the Malayalam speaking world. He acted in his first non-Malayalam movie when popular director Mani Ratnam roped him in for the Tamil film Iruvar. It had Mohanlal playing MGR, a cult figure of the neighbouring Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Indo-French production, Vaanaprastham, in which he played the role of a Kathakali dance artist with an identity crisis, won him the second National award for Best actor and was the first film that got him international recognition. The film was selected for the competitive section at the Cannes film festival and his performance was critically acclaimed[citation needed].
In 2002, Mohanlal acted in his first Bollywood movie, Company, which introduced him to the wider Hindi speaking audience in India.It was a critical and commercial hit.[citation needed] In 2006, the critically acclaimed Malayalam movie, Thanmathra (translated as "Molecule"), won him the Kerala state award for best actor for portraying a person affected by Alzheimer's disease. His second Bollywood movie Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, was the remake of the 1975 blockbuster movie Sholay, in which he played the character of the inspector played by Sanjeev Kumar in the original. Mohanlal won the 2007 Kerala state award for Best Actor for his performance as Valiakathu Moosa in the movie Paradesi.[citation needed]
[edit] Popularity
 |
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(January 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. |
A number of factors combined to make Mohanlal immensely popular in Kerala during his initial years in the late 80s. The kind of roles that he enacted, his easy natural way of acting and chubby innocent looks endeared him to the public and he came to be considered as just another member in many Keralite households. This was reflected in his being widely popular and affectionately called as Lal, which later became Lalettan.
But, like other Malayalam films during the 80s, Mohanlal's initial movies, though strong in story, screenplay and direction, were budget movies that were not expected to be viewed outside Kerala. The content was highly local and the movies had relatively weak production values when compared to the other popular Indian movies, with the result that, Mohanlal and many of his films were not known to the ordinary people outside the Malayalam speaking world[citation needed]. Later forays into Bollywood, in the 2000s, have not helped his cause much.
A veteran actor of 27 years, he has managed to adapt to the changing times. The arrival of younger actors in Malayalam has not diminished his popularity among the Malayalees. He emerged as the Most Popular Keralite in an SMS and online poll conducted by the national news channel CNN IBN in 2006, . [3].
[edit] Theatre
Like most other Indian stars, Mohanlal's acting career does not have a theatre background. However he has acted in a few plays. He debuted on the stage as Karna (a character in the Indian epic Mahabharata) in Karnabharam, a Sanskrit play that was premiered in New Delhi as part of the National Theatre Festival. The play depicts Karna's mental agony a day before the Kurukshetra war, when he thinks about his past and his faith.[4]
Kadhayattam, was a presentation enacted by Mohanlal, depicting 10 unforgettable characters and situations selected from Malayalam literature. He has said that it is his offering to his mother tongue. The presentation was a fusion of stage acting, movie expression, sound and lighting techniques and music, conceived by film director T.K. Rajeev Kumar[citation needed].
"CHAYAMUKHI" is Mohanlal's latest play under the banner 'Kalidasa Visual Magic' - a production house promoted jointly by Mohanlal and another well-known Malayalam actor Mukesh.[5]
[edit] Quotes
Mohanlal comes across as a remarkably laidback and philosophical person in his interviews[1]. He chooses his movies and plays mostly on instinct and likes to let things happen.[6]He prefers and enjoys working in the Malayalam industry with a close group of people whom he has known from his early career[1]. Many of his best school-college mates are with him in the film industry. These include director Priyadarshan, singer M. G. Sreekumar, actor Raju and producer Suresh Kumar.
Mohanlal is not known to plan or prepare extensively for his roles[citation needed] and is not considered a method actor.[citation needed] Most of his directors view him as a spontaneous actor with the ability to effectively portray the characters' inner feelings and turmoils [7] and express what the director wants, very fast and convincingly[8]. He is uncomfortable working in other languages and attributes it to his lack of command over the intricacies of those languages.[6]
[edit] About his attitude towards career
| “ | Nothing was planned in my life. It just happened. | ” |
| “ | Somebody is helping me from somewhere. Somebody has planned things for me. Some power is looking after me. | ” |
| “ | No, I had no strong ambition to act in films. Only those who had this burning desire to act in films, and who had to struggle hard to get a break in films would have experiences to recollect. My life wasn't like that at all. | ” |
[edit] About his friends in the industry
| “ | We are all still a part of the industry; still the same. All of us grew together. Even now, when we are shooting a film, we feel we are still the same college students! We still enjoy when we shoot a film. It is like a picnic for all of us, even now. | ” |
[edit] His Directors on Mohanlal
Director Priyadarshan on Mohanlal's acting style [9] - "He never prepares for any role or scene. He is not bothered how he looks or what he does. Once the camera is on, he is a transformed person. As he does only one film at a time, he knows everything about the film, nothing more."
He also recollects what Mani Ratnam told him about Mohanlal[9] - "Hereafter, I will never work with a man of whom I am a fan. I often forgot to say 'Cut' in Iruvar."
Shaji N Karun, director of Vaanaprastham speaks about the pride he has for Mohanlal as a country man and colleague.[8] - "I can only express one word if I have to describe Mohanlal: wonder. I look at him with awe when he transforms himself from a person to an artiste in front of the camera. I don't know how he transforms himself. It's inexplicable. When we were at Cannes, after watching Vaanaprastham, a European director told him, "You are born in the wrong part of the world." I felt very proud, but I argued back, saying "Who said he was on the wrong side?" "[citation needed]
[edit] Business ventures
- Vismayas Max [website], Film post production studio and College for Dubbing artists at Kinfra film and Video Park, Kazhakoottam, Trivandrum
- 'Pranavam Arts, Film Production Company (Currently inactive)
- Pranamam, Film Distribution Company (Currently inactive)
- Partner and Director of Uni Royal Marine Exports, a major Kozhikode-based seafood export company
- Restaurant chain in Dubai called Mohanlal's Tastebuds
- Restaurant in Bangalore named The Harbour Market
- Partner of Mohanlal's Tastebuds, a pickles and curry powder production company[10]
[edit] Controversy
In 2007 he faced criticism from prohibition activists in Kerala for appearing in advertisement of a liquor brand.[11] In India advertising of liquor is banned. Marketers used different methods to get around the ban, for example by promoting non-alcoholic drinks with near-identical labels to the alcoholic ones. In this particular advertisement widely publicised on local TV channels and cinemas, Mohanlal advertises for banana chips with the same brand name as a liquor.
[edit] Personal life
He is an avid collector of paintings and antiques and has a private art gallery at his home. He married Suchitra, daughter of veteran Tamil actor-producer K. Balaji, on 28 April 1988. He has two children Pranav and Vismaya. He is currently settled in Chennai.His father Viswanathan Nair and brother PyareLal have passed away.
[edit] Mohanlal Through Ages
 Baby Lalu |
 Mohanlal, the silent boy |
 The boy with his family |
 Lal, the teen |
 Teenage Lal with his family |
 Lal, the hippy |
 The young gun |
 The star wedding |
 With his wife, Suchithra |
 Lal with his wife and children |
[edit] Awards and achievements
- Further information: List of Mohanlal’s awards, honors and recognitions
Mohanlal was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government in 2001. He was recently elected as the Most Popular Keralite by the survey conducted by CNN - IBN related to the Silver Jubilee of Kerala formation in 2006.
[edit] National Film Awards
- 1989 Special Jury Award - Kireedam
- 1991 Best Actor - Bharatham
- 1999 Best Actor - Vanaprastham
- 1999 Best Film ( Producer ) - Vaanaprastham
[edit] Kerala State Film Awards
- 1986 Best Actor - T .P. Balagopalan M.A.
- 1988 Actor (Special Award) - Padha Mudhra, Chitram, Utsavappittennu, Aryan and Vellanakalude Nadu
- 1991 Best Actor - Ulladakkam, Kilukkam, Abhimanyu
- 1991 Best Second Film - Bharatham (Producer)
- 1995 Best Actor - Kalapani, Spadikam
- 1995 Best Second Film - Kalapani (Producer)
- 1999 Best Actor - Vaanaprastham
- 2005 Best Actor - Thanmatra
- 2007 Best Actor - Paradesi
[edit] International Indian Film Academy Awards
- 2002 Best supporting Actor - Company
[edit] Filmfare Awards
- 1986 Sanmasullavarkku Samadhaanam
- 1988 Padamudra
- 1993 Devasuram
- 1994 Pavitram
- 1997 Iruvar
- 1995 Sphadikam
- 1999 Vaanaprastham
- 2005 Thanmathra
- 2007 Paradesi
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Mohanlal - I have no roots
- ^ Malayalam cinema history
- ^ IBN Live- Most Popular Persons result analysis
- ^ Kavalam Narayana Panickkar - Mohanlal's new obsession
- ^ comeback to theatre. Mohanlal performs the role of Bheeman and Mukesh as Keechakan. The play was first staged at thrichur on march 12th back to theatre
- ^ a b CNN-IBN - Being Mohanlal
- ^ Hariharan - His gift is that he underplays emotions
- ^ a b Shaji. N.Karun - We haven't exploited Mohanlal's talent yet
- ^ a b Priyadarshan - Mohanlal is the best actor India has ever produced
- ^ Times of India: Mohanlal sells Taste Buds to Eastern group
- ^ BBC News -Trouble brews over alcohol ads
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||
