Published Feb 26, 2026 | 9:54 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 26, 2026 | 9:57 AM
A still from the teaser of the interview.
Synopsis: An interaction between Malayalam superstar Mohanlal and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, set to be broadcast on 25 February, has invited unfavourable comparisons with the 2019 interview between actor Akshay Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just months ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, the interaction, rich in warmth and carefully framed nostalgia, appears to attempt to humanise Kerala’s so-called Iron Man.
A film superstar interviewing a powerful head of government right on the cusp of elections – if that sounds familiar, it is because it has become something of a template for leaders across the political aisle in recent years.
Amid looming Assembly polls in Kerala, the Information and Public Relations Department on Tuesday, 24 February, released a teaser for another such interview. This time, it is veteran Malayalam actor Mohanlal interacting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the latter’s official residence, Cliff House, in Thiruvananthapuram.
The “interview” is set to be broadcast on Thursday across multiple television channels and social media platforms, but the teaser has already received a less than positive response, perhaps not what the LDF government was hoping for.
For many, the teaser, rich in warmth and carefully framed nostalgia, instantly recalled the infamous interaction between Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Titled Kandum Mindiyum… Iruvar (Seen and Spoken… the duo), it is a playful nod to Director Mani Ratnam’s 1997 political drama Iruvar, in which Mohanlal portrayed a towering political figure.
The tone is warm, almost intimate, and reminiscent of the softball questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced from Akshay Kumar. Aired mid-election season, that interview leaned on warmth and relatability.
But it quickly backfired when one seemingly harmless question about whether the Prime Minister eats mangoes became the subject of thousands of satirical memes.
Mohanlal’s interaction, likewise, opts for a soft tone, seemingly attempting to humanise Kerala’s so-called Iron Man.
Known for his unyielding posture and steely press demeanour with journalists, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appears relaxed, even nostalgic, sharing smiles with the superstar.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan felicitating Mohanlal
Leaning in with his trademark half-smile, Mohanlal says, “A friend told me secretly that your favourite films are Rajinikanth’s.” Vijayan nods, almost boyishly: “Yes, I like action movies.”
The superstar asks whether the Chief Minister has ever lived out a cinematic scene in real life. Regrets in public life come up. Vijayan refers to physical suffering in his early political days and enduring police torture.
There is a moment of nostalgia when Mohanlal nudges him to recall dialogues from Nadodikkattu and Narasimham.
The teaser closes with a line delivered by Mohanlal: “Ente Keralam, angade Keralam, nammude Keralam” (my Kerala, your Kerala, our Kerala).
Missing, though, are questions about governance and about the office that Vijayan holds.
Kerala is navigating a fiscal squeeze. There is opposition noise about last-minute welfare announcements. The state government frequently alleges stepmotherly treatment from the Centre.
There is no indication the interaction will venture there.
Months before the 2011 Assembly elections, it was again Mohanlal who sat down with then Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy for a televised conversation titled Iruvar. That time, the tone was considerably different.
Shot at Cantonment House, the official residence of the Opposition Leader, the actor raised the issue of recurring hartals and bandhs that routinely brought public life to a standstill.
Mohanlal and Oommen Chandy
While acknowledging that protests are a democratic right, Chandy stressed that the freedom of those who choose not to participate must also be respected.
At the time, the UDF was in the Opposition, and Chandy pointed out that it had called fewer hartals than the ruling LDF.
When Mohanlal asked Chandy how he perceived his shifting role from Chief Minister to Opposition Leader, Chandy said public life had taught him not to be elated in victory nor disheartened in defeat.
Both, he said, are part of the democratic process. His words soon gained resonance. In the Assembly elections that followed in 2011, Oommen Chandy returned as Chief Minister, leading the UDF back to power.
A year later, during the Onam season in 2012, Kairali TV aired a special interview. This time, it was Pinarayi Vijayan, then the CPI(M) state secretary. The interviewer was again an actor, Navya Nair.
Navya Nair and CM Pinarayi Vijayan
The optics were unusual. Nair confessed to Vijayan that she felt tense because of his reputation for seriousness and his reluctance towards light conversation.
Yet what followed was just that. She asked about the films he loved, the public image the media had shaped around him, his memories of marriage, and his fondness for food.
Vijayan’s wife Kamala and daughter Veena were also present. It felt less like a studio interrogation and more like a living room conversation.
Mohanlal’s interview has triggered a lively debate in the state.
But a senior CPI(M) leader asserted it was neither unusual nor improper.
“A Chief Minister is not a cloistered figure meant to appear only at press conferences or political rallies,” he told South First. “He is a public representative. People have the right to see the person behind the office.”
The conversation, he stressed, was not a government function, policy announcement or election rally, but simply an exchange.
“If a leader speaks about his childhood or cinema preferences, that does not dilute governance. Nor does it replace accountability. The Chief Minister answers the media regularly and faces the Assembly,” he added.
For the CPI(M), such engagements humanise public life and offer transparency in a format different from the usual political stage.
Unusually, Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan took a similar view.
“He is the elected Chief Minister of the state. He has every right to do so. The Opposition is not going to mock that,” Satheesan told reporters.
Instead, he suggested the interaction copied what Oommen Chandy had done and quipped that at least the title could have been changed.
Mohanlal with Mammootty. (X)
“Usually, he evades questions or responds only to those that are pre-circulated. When questions come from outside that list, he says it is time up and walks away,” Satheesan said.
Meanwhile, political analyst Joseph C Mathew said the choice of Mohanlal, rather than Malayalam superstar Mammootty—long perceived as having a personal equation with the Chief Minister and seen as broadly aligned with Left sympathies—was a sign of careful political signalling.
“Whoever is handling the public relations strategy seems to be consciously reshaping him as accessible and personable,” he said.
Left commentator NM Pearson said the interaction was a pragmatic response to the changing nature of campaigning.
“I do not see anything inherently wrong in it. If the party believes it enhances Vijayan’s public appeal, that is their call,” Pearson told South First.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
