Dreamz, Views and Ideas....: My favourite actors: Mohanlal-the malayalm film actor

One of my favourite actors is Mohanlal. Well, what could you say about him. He is a legend. He is my all time favourite. He is one of Malayalam film industry’s diamond. What attracts me more is his simplicity in acting. There are no overacting or over gestures. He has his own style of acting—the style of delivery of dialogue, the body language, all of which makes him my favourite actor. The style of his walking and running is very famous among malayalees. Mohanlal can do very complicated scene, with very much ease, without over doing it.

Mohanlal the star

Mohanlal talk about himself in ManoramaNews

Mohanlal about love

I am fan of many of his films. I especially like his comedy films, especially of the 80’s and early 90’s. Well he is a genius in doing comic roles. He has different style of doing this. While most Indian actors at that time take extra effort and over acting to do such comic scenes, Mohanlal do it with his own style, with ease. His body language, and actions and the style of delivery of dialogue, will make us giggle and laugh. The comic roles which I liked the most are from ‘T.P. Balagopalan M.A’, ‘Chitram’, ‘Kilukkam’,’Poochakkuru mukkuthi’, ‘Aram plus Aram kinnaram’, ‘Vandanam’, ‘Nadodikattu’, ‘Pattana pravesham’ –the list is endless. Well, he has teamed with many notable Malayalam film directors. The most interesting teams are Mohanlal- Sathyan Anthikkad, with Priyadarshan. With Priyadarshan he has made many comedy films, which were huge success. I think no actor in India can do such comedy like he has done. He has his own unique style.

His action oriented films are also very interesting. He may not be as good as Mammotty in dialogue delivery, but his rendition of the scenes are brilliant. His rowdy roles are very successful, like – Aranthamburan, Narasimham, Sfadigam etc. Among the films in which he has done serious roles; my favourite one is Kireedam. The film itself is classic in its own. His rendition as Sethumadhavan, a man who gets into trouble when he has to face a notorious rowdy, was excellent. Here, he had to portray all the mental tension the character undergoes when his future and his ambitions crumble before him. Well, you can say, this film is a feather in his crown. Well he got Special Jury Award for this role, in National film awards.

Aramthampuran

My other favourite films are: T.P. Balagopalan M.A., Thalavattam, Nadodikkattu, Chithram, and the list continues. One cannot forget the role in T.P. Balagopalan. An innocent youth who struggles to maintain his job, his ambitions and his love. There are many comic situations in this film. The sentimental scenes are also done well. Well, in Thalavattam he plays a patient in mental asylum. Well actually this film is inspired by Hollywood movie - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It is a tragic film with many comic situations.

Well he started his film carrier as a villain in Manjil Virinja Pookkal. He gradually grew into the status of a star. He has done many genre of films, from comedy to tragedy, from action to family oriented films. He has shown his talent in all type of characters. He had the chance to work with many great directors like Padmarajan, Bharathan, Maniratnam, Aravindan, Shaji N karun. He earned many awards, for his works.

But I am mainly fan of his early films, films in 80s and 90s. I am losing interest in his latest films. One of the things he should look after is his body. He has become too fat to fit into some roles. His obesity is a major distraction in many roles. He just don’t seem to fit into the character. I think the actor’s physical nature also has a part in his acting carrier. I think he is not taking much care of this thing. Well if he becomes a little more slim, he will do justice to his characters. I hope he will do it in near future.

And one more thing, he should stop taking larger than life characters. He should pick roles which has more acting challenges than, that involves melodramatic speeches and long dialogues with lot of English words stuffed into it. And I also think he should return to comic roles.

Anyway, one cannot deny the fact that he is a brilliant actor in the Indian film industry and one of the greatest actors of the world.