There was a time when the Malayalam industry revolved around Mohanlal and Mammootty, who delivered both parallel and commercial flicks. Interestingly, both these actors have acted in around 55 films together, and they will be seen together in the new Mahesh Narayanan directorial titled ‘Patriot', which is now under production.
Published Sep 21, 2025 | 2:46 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 21, 2025 | 2:46 PM
Mohanlal.
Synopsis: Mohanlal started his career with Manjil Virinja Pookal (1980), directed by Fazil. He has acted mainly in negative roles, especially in his initial phase of his career. He later did films such as Pathamudayam (1985), Attakkalasham (1983), Kaliyil Alpam Karyam (1984), Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku (1983), and Sreekrishna Parunthu (1984). These films benefited him as he could do different kinds of roles.
Veteran Malayalam actor Mohanlal has been conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, 2023, for his contributions to the Indian cinema. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Friday, 19 September, announced that Mohanlal will be conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2023 on 23 September during the 71st National Film Awards.
Mohanlal is already a recipient of two national awards for best actor. He has also received Padma Bhushan (2019) and Padma Shri (2001). The actor is the second Malayali, after director Adoor Gopalakrishnan (2004), to receive the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is presented for contributions to Indian cinema.
Mohanlal, who has acted in more than 350 movies, has been in the film industry for the past 40 years and has played a pivotal role in churning the Malayalam industry to another level along with his contemporary, Mammootty.
Mammootty, who has been a friend and co-actor of Mohanlal, wrote on social media that “More than a colleague, a brother, and an artist who has embarked on this wonderful cinematic journey for decades. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is not just for an actor, but for a true artist who has lived and breathed cinema. So happy and proud of you, Lal. You truly deserve this crown.”
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan congratulated the senior actor and said it’s a deserving recognition. “Congratulations to Mohanlal on being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. A truly deserving recognition for his extraordinary contributions to Indian cinema. This proud moment brings joy to every Malayali and to our nation as a whole,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Mohanlal.
Responding to the award, Mohanlal, on his social media, wrote that he was truly humbled to receive the award.
“Truly humbled to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. This honour is not mine alone; it belongs to every person who has walked alongside me on this journey. To my family, audience, colleagues, friends, and well-wishers, your love, faith, and encouragement have been my greatest strength and have shaped who I am today. I carry this recognition with deep gratitude and a full heart,” he wrote.
The award comes at a time when Kerala Assembly elections are to be held in 2026. There has been criticism that the ruling BJP at the Centre has picked an awardee right before a key election. Interestingly, there have also been discussions that Mammootty has not been given any awards after the NDA came to power as he has always shown his affinity to the CPI(M) in Kerala.
However, Mohanlal has been getting wishes from people from all walks of life including the writers, film fraternity, film buffs and others. The actor hasn’t openly shown any political stance and has always kept away from it.
The 65-year-old actor has had an impressive 2025 so far with hat-trick hits, Empuraan, Thudarum, and Hridayapoorvam. This was a comeback year for the actor who didn’t have any hits last year.
Interestingly, the veteran actor’s Chotta Mumbai (June), which was re-released after 18 years, also made an impact in theatres. The movie has collected more than ₹4 crores in two weeks. Overall, Mohanlal’s four films’ cumulative collection was over ₹500 crores at the box office in eight months.
Mohanlal is busy working on his upcoming films and commitments. His next film is a multi-lingual movie ‘Vrrushabha’ slated to release on 16 October, in which the actor will be seen as a warrior king.
He has some promising films in the lineup. He will be seen in an extended cameo role in ‘Bha Bha Bha’. His 365th film is currently under pre-production. Meanwhile, his directorial debut ‘Barroz’ (2024) didn’t live up to expectations.
The actor is also the host of the new Bigg Boss season —Malayalam, being telecast in Asianet.
Mohanlal is known as a born actor, and he has worked predominantly in Malayalam. He has also acted in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films.
He started his career with Manjil Virinja Pookal (1980) directed by Fazil. He has acted mainly in negative roles, especially in his initial phase of his career. He later did films such as Pathamudayam (1985), Attakkalasham (1983), Kaliyil Alpam Karyam (1984), Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku (1983), and Sreekrishna Parunthu (1984). These films benefited him as he could do different kinds of roles.
Mohanlal’s association with his childhood friend Priyadarshan saw many comedy films. They first worked together in the 1984 comedy Poochakkoru Mookkuthi. Both of them have worked in more than 40 films.
The veteran actor’s association with Padmarajan saw some of the classics in Malayalam — Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal (1986), Deshadanakilikal Karayarila (1986), and Thoovanathumbikal (1987), which are still celebrated ones.
Mohanlal’s association with Sibi Malayil resulted in films Doore Doore Oru Koodu Kootham (1986), Dasharatham (1989), Kireedam (1989), Bharatham (1991), His Highness Abdulla (1990), and Chenkol (1993). All these films were hits and still have a fan following. Mohanlal’s performance is a major highlight in these films.
He has done innumerable roles in his career, and some of his amazing performances in films include Sadayam (1992), Amritham Gamaya (1987), Thazhvaram (1990), Vanaprastham (1999), Thanmathra (2005), Iruvar (1997), Bharatham (1991), Ulsavappittennu (1988), and many more.
The actor doesn’t take any preparations before doing any roles. But Mohanlal had said that for his performance in Vanaprastham, he had learnt Kathakali.
According to Mohanlal, acting is a continuous process and a habitual experience. He had said that for him, acting depends on the chemistry towards his character, and the character will come to him, which is a continuous process.
Director Fazil, who introduced Mohanlal to Malayalam, had said that Mohanlal is an actor who knows the different techniques in acting.
Recalling the shooting of the movie Manichithrathaazhu (1993), Fazil, who directed the iconic movie, said that he had asked Mohanlal to reshoot a scene.
Mohanlal said that he did an expression in that particular shot, and he didn’t know if that could be repeated in the new shot. During the edit of the shooting, Fazil took the original shot as it was perfect and those days monitors were not there to check the minute moments.
Senior directors Priyadarshan and Sathyan Anthikad also shared similar experiences with Mohanlal, where the actor had amused them.
Mohanlal has excelled in comedy scenes compared to Mammootty, who is known for his serious roles.
Director Sangeeth Sivan, who died recently had said in an interview that his movie Nirnayam (1995) was actually meant to be written for Mammootty. But he couldn’t act due to date issues.
Later, it was done by Mohanlal and Sangeeth, and scriptwriter Cheriyan Kalpakavadi had added comedy and a romantic angle to the story as Mohanlal excels in these areas.
Mohanlal is the superstar who has delivered many superhits in his career. His films, such as Chithram (1988), Thenmavin Kombathu (1994), Kikukkam (1991), and Chandralekha (1997), directed by Priyadarshan, are being watched repeatedly. Who will forget Mohanlal in these films, where the actor has excelled, especially in comedy scenes?
Mohanlal got the superstar status with the success of his movie Rajavinte Makan in 1986. The actor is still a superstar, and most of his films have much anticipation before their release.
He doesn’t follow any formula for his films, but there was a similar pattern in his films, such as Thandavam (2002), Praja (2001), and Onnaman (2002), after the success of Narasimham in 2000.
But time proved that audiences don’t always accept similar format films, as no other similar pattern films got the acceptance that Narasimham had received.
Apart from this, Mohanlal was also criticised by left wing critics for doing films Devasuram (1993), Varnapakittu (1997), Adwaitham (1991), Vietnam Colony (1992) Aaram Thamburan (1997) and Narasimham (2000) that allegedly glorified forward castes in these films. But most of these films were commercial successes.
Mohanlal later did films like Balettan (2003), Udayananu Tharam (2005), etc., and came back to roles that weren’t similar to superheroes.
He is also the first actor to have a ₹100-crore film, Pulimurugan (2016). His movie, Lucifer (2019), opened a new market for Malayalam cinema as it was a blockbuster too. Interestingly, this year he had three successful films, of which Empuraan and Thudarum entered the ₹200-crore zone.
Empuraan, directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, was a superhit and has collected over ₹260 crores gross collection worldwide. The movie had courted controversy after its release as the right-wing political parties targeted it, alleging that it showed the Godhra train incident that led to the Gujarat riots from the point of view of Muslims.
This ignited the issue and Mohanlal apologised to those people who had issues with the film. The film crew voluntarily trimmed the areas in which the right wing had raised issues. This was after the movie was censored by the CBFC.
In Kerala, even Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the majority of the ministers watched the movie before it was re-edited and supported it. There were criticisms against Mohanlal from Left supporters that he apologised and trimmed the movie to please the right-wing supporters.
A major criticism faced by Mohanlal recently was his resignation from the top post of the actors’ body AMMA at a crucial time when the Hema Committee report on gender equality spoke of the exploitation of women actors in the Malayalam industry.
There was a time when the Malayalam industry revolved around Mohanlal and Mammootty, who delivered both parallel and commercial flicks. Interestingly, both these actors have acted in around 55 films together, and they will be seen together in the new Mahesh Narayanan directorial titled ‘Patriot‘, which is now under production.
Both these actors are great friends and know each other, and they entered the cinema almost at the same time. Mohanlal had offered prayers for Mammootty at Sabarimala temple as the latter had some serious health issues.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
