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About
his background
Mohanlal was born on May 21, 1960 in Elanthur,
Pathanamthitta district to father Vishwanathan Nair, an
advocate, and mother Santhakumari and later shifted to
Muduvanmukal in Thiruvananthapuram. He started acting right
from his school days. He became popular during 80s and early
90s for his light hearted roles with his easy and natural
acting style during a period which was also known as golden
age of Malayalam movies.
Film Career
Mohanlal was first
introduced to Malayalam movies when his friends established
a movie company called Bharath Cine Group.
On the Banner they shot a film titled Thiranottam where Mohanlal was given a small comic role. The film ran
into trouble with the Censor Board and was never released.
He got his first break through in 1980 at the age of 20 when
he was selected for the role of Narendran in Manjil
Virinja Pookkal under the banner of Navodya productions
directed by Fazil. He was noted in Uyarangalil a film
release in 1984 where he plays the role of cheat and
deceiver, written by noted script-writer M.T Vasudevan
Nair. It was a turnning point in his career. He then
acted in Poochakkoru Mookkuthi directed by
Priyadarshan.
Career Peak
During 80s and
90s, Malayalam Cinema is lauded at its peak. 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. In 1986 came
T.P Balagopalan M.A in which Mohanlal has won Kerala State Film Award for his outstanding performance,
directed by Sathyan Anthikad. His outstanding role
as Vincent Gomes, an underworld don in Rajavinte Makan
makes Mohanlalone of the two leading stars
in Malayalam cinema along with the other popular Malayalam
actor, Mammootty.
In the same year
Thalavattam directed by Priyadarshan was released
where Mohanlal plays the role of Vinod who turns mentally
ill after the death of his love.The movie shows how he can
get into the soul of any character. Another hit Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam in 1986 directed by
Sathyan Anthikad and Srinivasan, where
Mohanlal plays the leading role as Gopalakrishna Panikkar,
is a brilliant performance with
humorous
dialogues in village background scenes. His role as
journalist in M.T Vasudevan Nair’s
Panchagni
is also remarkable. Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal
is a warm and lyrical motion picture centered around
Malayalee Syrian Christian-Nasrani life. It was based on the
Malayalam novel Nammukku graamangalil chennu
raappaarkkaam ("Let us go and dwell in the villages") by K. K. Sudhakaran where Mohanlal plays the lead role
of a farm owner.
His role in
Gandhinagar 2nd Street as a Nepali Goorkha
brings a new twist to his career. His association with
Sathyan Anthikad and Srinivasan who
excelled in making socially hard-hitting
satires, brought Varavelpu in 1989 depicting trade union
problems plaguing Kerala in a satirical dark comedy and some
stellar performances from the lead actors. He plays the role
of a young Keralite who returns to his home state of Kerala after 7 long years of toil in the Gulf. This movie went onto
become a huge commercial and critical success. Chithram
was released in 1988, directed by Priyadarshan and
containing musical comedies where Mohanlal plays the role of
Vishnu, a prisoner who has escaped from jail after
being sentenced to death. He is a photographer, and
accidentally kills his wife. His son is suffering from a
chronic illness. He escapes from jail to amass money for his
son's medical treatment.
In 90s he
continued his success with His Highness Abdullah
directed by Sibi Malayil where he played a Muslim
disguised as a Nambodiri brahmin to assassinate a king. His
other notable films are Midhunam, Minnaram, Thenmavin
kombath, Devasuram, Sphadikam , Manichitrathazh, Aaram
thamburan, Narasimham ,Praja, Naran, Kalapani, Thanmatra and
Hello.
He acted in his
first Tamil Movie when popular director Mani Ratnam
teamed him up in his movie as MGR in Iruvar.
It had Mohanlal playing MGR, a cult figure of the
neighbouring Tamilnadu. Iruvar is the tale of two men
- Selvam, the poet and rising politician, and Anandan, a
budding actor. This friendship saw, with the rhetoric of the
former and the popularity of the latter, the birth of an
alliance which politically took the State by storm. And yet,
it was the same politics that drove them apart; a separation
that was politically permanent.
In
2002, Mohanlal acted in Company, his first Bollywood
movie. His second Bollywood movie Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag,
which is the remake of the 1975 blockbuster movie Sholay,
is in the post-production stage
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