Mohanlal the complete Actor

 

The complete actor Mohanlal.

Truly he deserves that label .

More than anyone else we had been seeing him from his first film Manjil virinja pookal which was our first film after getting engaged , of course pre engagement films are unofficial .

After this eeky perfomance  Mohanlal was thought by us as just a disgusting lanky villain with untidy hairstyle .

Later we saw him in another film where he had an obsession to the heroine taken partly in Nepal no not Yodha .

In those early days of the eighties we avoided seeing Mohanlal films as we never liked him .

I still remember us going on our yezdi bike to Ernakulam to see some film and someone suggested Thalavattam running in Saritha theater .

We went with half a mind as we were not happy to see that fellow mohanlal but sat up seeing a more smarter Mohanlal and we fell for him by the time that film was over .

Mohanlal had truly arrived .

There was no looking back .

Chitram was a fresh breeze to malayalam films .

Films like number 20 Madras mail with Mamooty in a guest role and many more came 

Poochaku oru mookuthi

Boeing Boeing

Thoovana thumbikal 

Rajavinte magan ,Irubatham nootaandu and those lovely Satyan Antikaadu films like Sanmanasullorku samadhaanam.

 later the Sreenivasan Mohanlal trilogy of Nadodikaatu all took him to the top .

They were one great combo

Jagathi too was one to Mohanlal 

Innocent

Whoever it was Mohanlal needed no one he acted with all but kept his uniqueness melding so well with all

So also with his heroines .

And then came a new phase of the highly versatile actor Mohanlal of Lohitadas Siby malayil combo of His highness Abdullah ,Kamaladhalam, Dasaradham ,Bharatham .and so on .

The pinnacle of his acting was in Kireedam and as the comedy hero in Kilukkam which are  eternal favourites .

His classmate Priyadarshan directed him from Chiteam in so many 

Venu nagavally in Hey Auto Sarvakalasala kizakunurum pakshi laal salaam .

By then IV Sasi had made Devasuram another chapter in the great Mohanlal and its second part Ravana prabhu 

By then he went on to do Mani Ratnams Iruvar and tge famous director had mentioned during takes he forgot to say cut ..watching the wonderful actor Mohanlal emoting .

In between he acted with two great legends The great Sivaji Ganesan himself in Pratap Pothens Yathramozhi a veritable feast where tge tgespian acts with his eyes and lal is the best possible sucessor as he is so easy with the greatest of actors .

Later came the film with Bharath Gopi directed by Sathyan Anthikadi where the two great actors gave us a feast .

There were many more like Thanmatra where Lal enacted role of a pre senile Alzheimer patient with so much pathos .

His partnering with Jayapradha and Anupham kher in Pranayam was such a sensitive film on seniors .

Whether it was as a swashbuckling college student or a tough army officer which he did a series with Major Ravi  a retired army officer and commando himself 

Mohanlal took base army training and was given honourary leftuanant colonel post in Territorial army a grwat honour and even led a contigent in New Delhi for Republic day no cinema hero has ever done an inspiration for many youngsters .

 He can be an old man or as a funny middle aged common man whatever lal lived his roles .

It never felt he acted .

His grace in dancing, singing ,dialogue delivery or stunts like in Pulimurugan Spadikam or Thazvaram which he was directed by famous Bharatan .

Adoors Vanaprastham 

Padmarajans namakku parkaan mundirithoppukal 

Directors vied to use Mohanlals skills .

They came and went , showing thier talents for a span of films but Mohanlal lasted them all acted for all ,but continued to do so .

In some of his later films instead of becoming more jaded as he aged he has reinvented himself by reducing weight lookong younger and acting better and better like in Drishyam one and two and Odiyan .

Director Balachander after seeing Drishyam one wrote in his hand a long letter of many pages eulogising Mohanlal the greatest of actors something he rarely did for anyone .

In his friends son Prithivirajs film and his Direction of Lucifer he touched highest profit now with its second part in the make .

In between he also acted in a sanskrit drama Karna to test his histrionics .

Anything he attempted he was not only good but perfect .

Now into directing his first film Baroz and as President of AMMA malayalam actors Assn Lal seems to be all over .

He is mentioned as a very amiable person never hurting anyone keeping away from politics never treading on religion and dear friend to his biggest competition and friend and equally talented handsome Mamooty .

Truly Malayalam film is gifted by these two great talents .

I never thought that disgusting lanky villain we hated in the eighties would be the greatest actor we would know till date .

Amazing actor .