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Mohanlal was
born on May 21, 1960(which incidentally makes him a Taurean, and he seems to
fit the bill) in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala State (India) to Sri
Viswanathan Nair and Smt. Santhakumari. He also had an elder brother named
Pyare Lal. In his mother's own words, 'quite, a very quite child' is how we
can characterize young Mohanlal.
He did his
schooling from Mudavanmukal School and Model School (Thiruvananthapuram) and
completed his BCom from M.G. College (Thiruvananthapuram). Incidentally, he
knows famous director and his personal good friend Priyadarsan(with whom he
has worked in the maximum no. of films -27) from childhood. Though not the
best of friends at the time (Priyan recalls them fighting over the same
girls), they had one common passion that brought them together-Cinema.
Priyadarsan still fondly remembers the hours they'd spend together in the
college canteen discussing cinema.
It is a little
known fact that Mohanlal won a Best Actor Award when in the sixth standard
in school, an award usually won only by the people from tenth standard. His
genuine interest led him and his friends to establish a company named 'Bharath
Cine Group'. On September 3, 1978 they began shooting for 'Thiranottam'. The
team included Suresh Kumar, Unni, Priyadarsan, S Kumar, Ashok Kumar among
others. Mohanlal played the role of a mentally challenged servant in the
film. The location for shooting was in and around Mohanlal's house at
Mudavanmukal and Suresh's house. Even after tiding over financial problems,
the film ran into rough weather with the Censor Board and was never
released.
But this
setback did little to sway the hold of deep love for acting. Even when in
college, he went with friends to Chennai (then Madras)-one of the melting
pots for South Indian Film Industry-in search of a job as an actor. They
occupied Room No 3 of the famous Swamy's lodge. This is when they came
across an ad in the Malayala Manorama daily looking for a youngster for a
role in a film. Unhappy with the way he looked in photograph, he declined
from applying. But Suresh, aware of his natural talent, secretly sent his
photograph anyway. Mohanlal received a telegram the next day and very soon
was displaying his skills in front of an interview panel comprising of the
likes of Fazil, Sibi Malayil and Jijo. As a result, he received the role of
the villain in Fazil's 'Manyil Virinya Pookal'.
This began his
fulltime career as an actor in Malayalam films. A workhorse, he would at one
time have 35-40 releases in a year. His major break came in 1986 with the
all-time hit 'Rajavinde Makan'. This was also the year when he married
Suchitra, daughter of a former actor of Tamil films, Balaji.
He won his
first State Award for the film T .P. Balagopal M.A (1986). He has won 4 of
them to date. He won his first Filmfare Award for the film Sanmasullavarkku
Samadhaanam (1986). He has won 5 Filmfare Awards to date. He won his first
National Best Actor Award for the film Kireedam released in 1989-albeit the
jury award. Later he won Best Actor National Awards for Bharatham (1991) and
Vaanaprastham (1999). Apart from this, he has won numerous awards over the
years for various films.
The hallmark
of Mohanlal's acting is the spontaneity of performance. It is quite a
well-known fact that he doesn't seriously rehearse or prepare for his roles.
He just becomes the character he is playing for the duration between
'Action' and 'Cut'. So it is not uncommon to hear a reply like 'I don't
know' from him when asked about how he carries out something like not
blinking when he turns mentally retarded in the film 'Thalavattam', a
characteristic even he wasn't aware of at the time; about how he gets the
nuances so very right. In his own words " If you study it and then act the
role, everything will flounder. Good acting just happens. And personally I
don't think one needs to work on the character unless one plays a historical
character." For those in front of the screen (the audience), the best thing
about Mohanlal is his versatility. It seems he can play absolutely any role
under the sun convincingly. And unlike many versatile actors who have traded
intensity owing to their versatility, Mohanlal can be most intense if the
role demands, the proof being his performances in the numerous action films
he's worked in. Priyadarsan calls him the best actor India has ever
produced.
Mohanlal
established Pranavam Arts to be able to produce the kind of films he had an
intense desire to create. And 'Beautiful' is the least we can say to
describe some of his creations. His film 'Kaalapani', released in 1995, won
5 National and 7 State Awards. Another splendid creation, 'Vaanaprastham',
released in 1999 won the National Award for Best Film.
In recent
years, he has concentrated on working on one film at a time to devote more
to quality. In his own words, he's more concerned about whether the script
is a good one or not rather than whether the movie will be a big hit or not.
A gentle human, he'd do films for friends regardless of the kind of project
and the monetary returns. His jovial behaviour with cast and crew has
endeared him to one and all.
Mohanlal's
innate character is guided by the principle of lack of attachment. He was
witness to an unfortunate incident wherein an actor with whom he was
performing suddenly collapsed to death in front of him. This incident
created a deep impact on his attitude to life. It explains his outlook to
life and the reason he has now set his priorities the way he has.
Initially
averse to working in Tamil films (his reason being 'too much masala' in
them), he has now been part of quite a few, including the controversial 'Iruvar'
loosely based on the life of Tamil actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil
Nadu M.G.R. directed by the very famous director Mani Ratnam. He commented
after the making "Hereafter, I will never work with a man of whom I am a
fan." The reason being he often forgot to say 'Cut' while shooting!!!
His commitment
to his roles is seen in his involvement during the making of the film. It is
a well-known fact that he learnt Bharatnatyam for his role in 'Kamaladalam'
and learnt 'Kathakali' for his role in 'Vaanaprastham'. Though, typical of
this simple and humble human, he often downplays his efforts pointing that
it is nothing in comparison to what the masters of the art have put in
during years of practice.
Leading a
contented life in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) with his wife and two children (Pranavam
and Vismaya), he leads a life convinced that there is a force above guiding
him through life to whom he gives credits for all his achievements.
We mortals can
only wait and pray to continue to be witnesses to the performance of his art
while he continues to leave footprints on the sands of time through the
medium of cinema. |
