LoginMohan Lal
Stats
Birth Name: Mohan Lal
Age: 63, born 21 May 1960
Country of origin: 
India
Currently Residing In: India
Height: 5' 7"
Relationship Status: Married
Partner: Suchitra
Photos
View all Mohan Lal pictures
Description:
Who is Mohanlal?
The blazing star in the silver sky of Indian Filmore, Mohanlal, or Lalettan as he is fondly called is pivoted to the status of a demigod by every movie goer in Kerala. With a legendary tilt and a riveting smile Lal has the sophistication of a master and simplicity of a commoner. Mohanlal (born May 21, 1960), is a National award winning Indian actor, producer, who works in Malayalam films. He is one of the most popular actors in the Indian state, Kerala. He is noted for his versatility, effortless acting, unique body language and for his association with some of the best Malayalam directors and screenwriters.
Who is Mohanlal?
The blazing star in the silver sky of Indian Filmore, Mohanlal, or Lalettan as he is fondly called is pivoted to the status of a demigod by every movie goer in Kerala. With a legendary tilt and a riveting smile Lal has the sophistication of a master and simplicity of a commoner. Mohanlal (born May 21, 1960), is a National award winning Indian actor, producer, who works in Malayalam films. He is one of the most popular actors in the Indian state, Kerala. He is noted for his versatility, effortless acting, unique body language and for his association with some of the best Malayalam directors and screenwriters. He was awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honors in India, by the Indian Government in 2001.
Mohanlal became immensely popular in Kerala during the mid 80's in light hearted roles with his easy and natural acting style. The late 80's and the early 90's, known as the Golden Age of Malayalam cinema, produced some of the most creative and diverse Malayalam movies and enabled Mohanlal establish himself as one of the most talented actors in the country. He is critically acclaimed for his ability to get into the character's skin and portray their inner feelings and turmoils within a limited time-frame.
Mohanlal family background and childhood:
Mohanlal was born in Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala State (India), to father Vishwanathan Nair, an advocate, and mother Santhakumari and later shifted to Muduvanmukal in the Thiruvananthapuram. He attended the local school in Muduvanmukal and later enrolled into the Model School, Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum). An average student at school, he started his association with the world of acting very early, when he used to participate in school-plays. In the sixth grade, young Mohanlal was chosen the best actor in school, an award that was usually bagged by tenth graders.
After schooling, he went to Mahatma Gandhi College, Thiruvananthapuram for Bcom, Bachelor's degree in Commerce, but failed to complete it.During this time he continued to act in college productions and won best actor awards. He made friends with a group of fellow-students, who were passionate about theatre and feature films. They were instrumental in getting him his first breakthrough and some of them, notably Priyadarshan and Raju, went on to become popular movie directors and actors.
Mohanlal Personal Life:
He is an avid collector of paintings and antiques and has a private art gallery at his home. He married Suchitra, daughter of veteran Tamil actor-producer K. Balaji, on 28 April 1988. He has two children Pranav and Vismaya. He is currently settled in Chennai. Both his father Viswanathan Nair and brother PyareLal have expired.
What others say about Mohanlal?
Mohanlal is not known to plan or prepare extensively for his roles and is not considered a method actor. Director Priyadarshan's words about Mohanlal summarize his acting style.
"He never prepares for any role or scene. He is not bothered how he looks or what he does. Once the camera is on, he is a transformed person. As he does only one film at a time, he knows everything about the film, nothing more."
He also recollects what ManiRatnam told him about Mohanlal.
"Hereafter, I will never work with a man of whom I am a fan. I often forgot to say 'Cut' in Iruvar."
Many of his directors agree that he is a spontaneous actor who has the ability to express and convey what the director wants, very fast and convincingly and is able to brilliantly portray inner feelings and turmoils of the characters that he plays.
Mohanlal – most popular hero of Malluwood:
A number of factors combined to make Mohanlal immensely popular in Kerala. The kind of roles that he enacted, his easy natural way of acting and chubby innocent looks endeared him to the public and he came to be considered as just another member in many Keralite households. This was reflected in his being widely popular and affectionately called as "Lalu" or "Lalettan".
But, like other Malayalam films during this period, Mohanlal's movies, though strong in story, screenplay and direction, were low budget movies that were not intended to be viewed outside Kerala. The content was highly local and the movies had relatively weak production values when compared to the other popular Indian movies with the result that Mohanlal and many of his films were not known to the ordinary people outside Kerala or the Malayalam speaking world .
Mohanlal Career:
Mohanlal in his own words about his career:
Mohanlal comes across as a remarkably laidback and philosophical person in his interviews. He chooses his movies and plays largely based on instinct and likes to let things happen.
“ Nothing was planned in my life. It just happened. ”
“ Somebody is helping me from somewhere. Somebody has planned things for me. Some power is looking after me. ”
“ No, I had no strong ambition to act in films. Only those who had this burning desire to act in films, and who had to struggle hard to get a break in films would have experiences to recollect. My life wasn't like that at all. ”
He prefers and enjoys working in the Malayalam industry with a close group of people whom he has known from his early career. Many of his best school-college mates are with him in the film industry. These include director Priyadarshan, singer M.G.Sreekumar, actor Raju and producer Suresh Kumar.
“ We are all still a part of the industry; still the same. All of us grew together. Even now, when we are shooting a film, we feel we are still the same college students! We still enjoy when we shoot a film. It is like a picnic for all of us, even now. ”
He is uncomfortable working in other languages and attributes it to his lack of command over the intricacies of those languages.
Mohanlal - Early days of career(1980-1985):
His introduction to movies was automatic, when his friends combined to establish a movie company, Bharath Cine Group and began shooting a film titled Thiranottam. Mohanlal was given a small comic role. The film ran into trouble with the Censor Board and was never released.
His first breakthrough came in 1980, at the age of 20, when a Malayalam production house Navodaya wanted to make a film with new artistes in leading roles. Mohanlal's friends sent his photographs to Navodya productions. He was auditioned and selected for the role of Narendran, the antagonist, in Manjil Virinja Pookkal.
He had no dearth of opportunities after this and he played roles of gradually increasing importance in a number of movies in the following years. In the year 1983, he is credited in more than 25 feature films. Uyarangalil, a story of cheating and deception, written by noted script-writer M.T.Vasudevan Nairand directed by I.V.Sasi was a highlight of this period of his career. He then expanded into comic roles in his director-friend and college mate Priyadarshan's debut Poochakkoru Mookkuthi.
Mohanlal - Goldern Era(1986-1995):
Malayalam cinema was entering it's golden age at this time with films characterised by detailed screenplays, lucid narration and fresh ideas that narrowed the gap between art cinema and commercial cinema[3]. As a young talent on the rise, Mohanlal obtained roles that gave him ample scope to display a wide range of emotions and started some very fruitful associations with some of the best directors and writers in Malayalam cinema.
The year 1986 was one of his best years. Sathyan Anthikad's T.P.Balagopalan M.A got him the first Kerala State award for best actor. His role of a underworld don in Rajavinte Makansaw the emergence of Mohanlal as one of the two leading stars in Malayalam cinema along with the other popular Malayalam actor, Mammootty. In the same year, he played an asylum inmate in Thalavattom, a harassed house-owner in Sanmanassu Ullavarku Samadhanam, a journalist in M.T.Vasudevan Nair's Panchagni, a farm owner in love in Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal and a Nepali Goorkha in Gandhi Nagar 2nd street.
His association with the writer-director combination of Sreenivasan and Sathyan Anthikkad, who excelled in making socially hard-hitting satires, resulted in films such as Varavelpu, in which he played a Gulf returnee who is welcomed back home to greedy relatives and a state with a hostile climate for enterpreneurs. Director Priyadarshan's musical comedies, notably Chithram had him playing the typical Indian romantic hero and increased his popularity among the teenage movie-goers.
At his peak, he portrayed some of the best author backed roles in Malayalam cinema in movies written by Padmarajan and M.T. Vasudevan Nair. Thoovanathumbikal in which he portrayed a person torn between his twin love interests, broke many stereotypes in Indian films such as the leading man falling in love with a second woman immediately after he is rejected by the first. Amrithamgamaya was about a man who ends up at the house of a boy whom he had unknowingly killed in college during a ragging session.
The combination of writer Lohithadas and director Sibi Malayil is considered to have produced some of his most haunting roles. His role of Sethu Madhavan, who dreams of becoming a police officer but ends up as a criminal in the film Kireedam became a classic tragedy in Indian cinema. It got him the Special Jury award at the annual National awards. Another role of a classical singer who is burdened by the jealousy and final death of his singer brother in Bharatham helped him bag the Best actor award at the same awards next year.
The 90s saw him continuing his success with more entertainers like His Highness Abdullah, where he played a Muslim disguised as a Nambodiri brahmin to assassinate a king. His other notable commercial movies during this period such as Midhunam, Minnaram, Thenmavin kombath continued the tradition of the 80s with neat well-written scripts and a rich set of characters. Devasuram, written by Ranjith and directed by I.V.Sasi was particularly noted for Mohanlal's portrayal of a proud, rich and brash young man who is slowly humbled by a chain of events. Director Bhadran's Sphadikam became a cult classic for the revolutionary way in which the stunts were picturised. Critically acclaimed films were fewer in number during this time and were mostly semi-entertainers like Manichitrathazhu, which had the female lead Shobhana bagging a National award for best actor.
Mohanlal recent years in film career:
During the later period of his career, film makers cashed in on the immense popularity that Mohanlal enjoyed in Kerala by portraying him as a invincible larger-than-life hero in movies. Movies like Aaram Thamburan, Ustad, Narasimham, Praja, Naran used his superstar image. After their initial novelty, these films faced criticism from most quarters over their lack of realism and for creating movies around Mohanlal. Priyadarshan's Kalapani, an account of India's freedom struggle against the British that focussed on the Cellular prisons of Andaman islands and Lohithadas's Kanmadam were some of his notable films during the late 90's.
It was at this time that Mohanlal started getting noticed outside the Malayalam speaking world. He acted in his first non-Malayalam movie when popular director Mani Ratnam roped him in for the Tamil film Iruvar. It had Mohanlal playing MGR, a cult figure of the neighbouring Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Indo-French production, Vaanaprastham, in which he played the role of a Kathakali dance artist with an identity crisis, won him the second National award for Best actor and was the first film that got him international recognition. The film was selected for the competitive section at the Cannes film festival and his performance was critically acclaimed.
In 2002, Mohanlal acted in his first Bollywood movie, Company, which introduced him to the wider Hindi speaking audience in India. In 2006, the critically acclaimed Malayalam movie, Thanmathra (translated as molecule), won him the Kerala state award for best actor for portraying a person affected by the Alzheimer's disease. His second Bollywood movie Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, which is the remake of the 1975 blockbuster movie Sholay was released in August 2007. Many see this movie as a forgettable episode to Mohanlal's illustrious career, in which he appears strained and struggles with his hindi dialogues.
Mohanlal in Theaters:
Like most other Indian stars, Mohanlal's acting career does not have a theatre background. However he has acted in a few plays. He debuted on the stage as Karna (a character in the Indian epic Mahabharata) in Karnabharam, a Sanskrit play that was premiered in New Delhi as part of the National Theatre Festival. The play depicts Karna's mental agony a day before the Kurukshetra war, when he thinks about his past and his faith.
Kadhayattam, was a presentation enacted by Mohan Lal, depicting 10 unforgettable characters and situations selected from Malayalam literature. He has said that it is his offering to his mother tongue. The presentation is a fusion of stage acting, movie expression, sound and lighting techniques and music, conceived by film director T.K. Rajeev Kumar.
... (more) (less)
The blazing star in the silver sky of Indian Filmore, Mohanlal, or Lalettan as he is fondly called is pivoted to the status of a demigod by every movie goer in Kerala. With a legendary tilt and a riveting smile Lal has the sophistication of a master and simplicity of a commoner. Mohanlal (born May 21, 1960), is a National award winning Indian actor, producer, who works in Malayalam films. He is one of the most popular actors in the Indian state, Kerala. He is noted for his versatility, effortless acting, unique body language and for his association with some of the best Malayalam directors and screenwriters. He was awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honors in India, by the Indian Government in 2001.
Mohanlal became immensely popular in Kerala during the mid 80's in light hearted roles with his easy and natural acting style. The late 80's and the early 90's, known as the Golden Age of Malayalam cinema, produced some of the most creative and diverse Malayalam movies and enabled Mohanlal establish himself as one of the most talented actors in the country. He is critically acclaimed for his ability to get into the character's skin and portray their inner feelings and turmoils within a limited time-frame.
Mohanlal family background and childhood:
Mohanlal was born in Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala State (India), to father Vishwanathan Nair, an advocate, and mother Santhakumari and later shifted to Muduvanmukal in the Thiruvananthapuram. He attended the local school in Muduvanmukal and later enrolled into the Model School, Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum). An average student at school, he started his association with the world of acting very early, when he used to participate in school-plays. In the sixth grade, young Mohanlal was chosen the best actor in school, an award that was usually bagged by tenth graders.
After schooling, he went to Mahatma Gandhi College, Thiruvananthapuram for Bcom, Bachelor's degree in Commerce, but failed to complete it.During this time he continued to act in college productions and won best actor awards. He made friends with a group of fellow-students, who were passionate about theatre and feature films. They were instrumental in getting him his first breakthrough and some of them, notably Priyadarshan and Raju, went on to become popular movie directors and actors.
Mohanlal Personal Life:
He is an avid collector of paintings and antiques and has a private art gallery at his home. He married Suchitra, daughter of veteran Tamil actor-producer K. Balaji, on 28 April 1988. He has two children Pranav and Vismaya. He is currently settled in Chennai. Both his father Viswanathan Nair and brother PyareLal have expired.
What others say about Mohanlal?
Mohanlal is not known to plan or prepare extensively for his roles and is not considered a method actor. Director Priyadarshan's words about Mohanlal summarize his acting style.
"He never prepares for any role or scene. He is not bothered how he looks or what he does. Once the camera is on, he is a transformed person. As he does only one film at a time, he knows everything about the film, nothing more."
He also recollects what ManiRatnam told him about Mohanlal.
"Hereafter, I will never work with a man of whom I am a fan. I often forgot to say 'Cut' in Iruvar."
Many of his directors agree that he is a spontaneous actor who has the ability to express and convey what the director wants, very fast and convincingly and is able to brilliantly portray inner feelings and turmoils of the characters that he plays.
Mohanlal – most popular hero of Malluwood:
A number of factors combined to make Mohanlal immensely popular in Kerala. The kind of roles that he enacted, his easy natural way of acting and chubby innocent looks endeared him to the public and he came to be considered as just another member in many Keralite households. This was reflected in his being widely popular and affectionately called as "Lalu" or "Lalettan".
But, like other Malayalam films during this period, Mohanlal's movies, though strong in story, screenplay and direction, were low budget movies that were not intended to be viewed outside Kerala. The content was highly local and the movies had relatively weak production values when compared to the other popular Indian movies with the result that Mohanlal and many of his films were not known to the ordinary people outside Kerala or the Malayalam speaking world .
Mohanlal Career:
Mohanlal in his own words about his career:
Mohanlal comes across as a remarkably laidback and philosophical person in his interviews. He chooses his movies and plays largely based on instinct and likes to let things happen.
“ Nothing was planned in my life. It just happened. ”
“ Somebody is helping me from somewhere. Somebody has planned things for me. Some power is looking after me. ”
“ No, I had no strong ambition to act in films. Only those who had this burning desire to act in films, and who had to struggle hard to get a break in films would have experiences to recollect. My life wasn't like that at all. ”
He prefers and enjoys working in the Malayalam industry with a close group of people whom he has known from his early career. Many of his best school-college mates are with him in the film industry. These include director Priyadarshan, singer M.G.Sreekumar, actor Raju and producer Suresh Kumar.
“ We are all still a part of the industry; still the same. All of us grew together. Even now, when we are shooting a film, we feel we are still the same college students! We still enjoy when we shoot a film. It is like a picnic for all of us, even now. ”
He is uncomfortable working in other languages and attributes it to his lack of command over the intricacies of those languages.
Mohanlal - Early days of career(1980-1985):
His introduction to movies was automatic, when his friends combined to establish a movie company, Bharath Cine Group and began shooting a film titled Thiranottam. Mohanlal was given a small comic role. The film ran into trouble with the Censor Board and was never released.
His first breakthrough came in 1980, at the age of 20, when a Malayalam production house Navodaya wanted to make a film with new artistes in leading roles. Mohanlal's friends sent his photographs to Navodya productions. He was auditioned and selected for the role of Narendran, the antagonist, in Manjil Virinja Pookkal.
He had no dearth of opportunities after this and he played roles of gradually increasing importance in a number of movies in the following years. In the year 1983, he is credited in more than 25 feature films. Uyarangalil, a story of cheating and deception, written by noted script-writer M.T.Vasudevan Nairand directed by I.V.Sasi was a highlight of this period of his career. He then expanded into comic roles in his director-friend and college mate Priyadarshan's debut Poochakkoru Mookkuthi.
Mohanlal - Goldern Era(1986-1995):
Malayalam cinema was entering it's golden age at this time with films characterised by detailed screenplays, lucid narration and fresh ideas that narrowed the gap between art cinema and commercial cinema[3]. As a young talent on the rise, Mohanlal obtained roles that gave him ample scope to display a wide range of emotions and started some very fruitful associations with some of the best directors and writers in Malayalam cinema.
The year 1986 was one of his best years. Sathyan Anthikad's T.P.Balagopalan M.A got him the first Kerala State award for best actor. His role of a underworld don in Rajavinte Makansaw the emergence of Mohanlal as one of the two leading stars in Malayalam cinema along with the other popular Malayalam actor, Mammootty. In the same year, he played an asylum inmate in Thalavattom, a harassed house-owner in Sanmanassu Ullavarku Samadhanam, a journalist in M.T.Vasudevan Nair's Panchagni, a farm owner in love in Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal and a Nepali Goorkha in Gandhi Nagar 2nd street.
His association with the writer-director combination of Sreenivasan and Sathyan Anthikkad, who excelled in making socially hard-hitting satires, resulted in films such as Varavelpu, in which he played a Gulf returnee who is welcomed back home to greedy relatives and a state with a hostile climate for enterpreneurs. Director Priyadarshan's musical comedies, notably Chithram had him playing the typical Indian romantic hero and increased his popularity among the teenage movie-goers.
At his peak, he portrayed some of the best author backed roles in Malayalam cinema in movies written by Padmarajan and M.T. Vasudevan Nair. Thoovanathumbikal in which he portrayed a person torn between his twin love interests, broke many stereotypes in Indian films such as the leading man falling in love with a second woman immediately after he is rejected by the first. Amrithamgamaya was about a man who ends up at the house of a boy whom he had unknowingly killed in college during a ragging session.
The combination of writer Lohithadas and director Sibi Malayil is considered to have produced some of his most haunting roles. His role of Sethu Madhavan, who dreams of becoming a police officer but ends up as a criminal in the film Kireedam became a classic tragedy in Indian cinema. It got him the Special Jury award at the annual National awards. Another role of a classical singer who is burdened by the jealousy and final death of his singer brother in Bharatham helped him bag the Best actor award at the same awards next year.
The 90s saw him continuing his success with more entertainers like His Highness Abdullah, where he played a Muslim disguised as a Nambodiri brahmin to assassinate a king. His other notable commercial movies during this period such as Midhunam, Minnaram, Thenmavin kombath continued the tradition of the 80s with neat well-written scripts and a rich set of characters. Devasuram, written by Ranjith and directed by I.V.Sasi was particularly noted for Mohanlal's portrayal of a proud, rich and brash young man who is slowly humbled by a chain of events. Director Bhadran's Sphadikam became a cult classic for the revolutionary way in which the stunts were picturised. Critically acclaimed films were fewer in number during this time and were mostly semi-entertainers like Manichitrathazhu, which had the female lead Shobhana bagging a National award for best actor.
Mohanlal recent years in film career:
During the later period of his career, film makers cashed in on the immense popularity that Mohanlal enjoyed in Kerala by portraying him as a invincible larger-than-life hero in movies. Movies like Aaram Thamburan, Ustad, Narasimham, Praja, Naran used his superstar image. After their initial novelty, these films faced criticism from most quarters over their lack of realism and for creating movies around Mohanlal. Priyadarshan's Kalapani, an account of India's freedom struggle against the British that focussed on the Cellular prisons of Andaman islands and Lohithadas's Kanmadam were some of his notable films during the late 90's.
It was at this time that Mohanlal started getting noticed outside the Malayalam speaking world. He acted in his first non-Malayalam movie when popular director Mani Ratnam roped him in for the Tamil film Iruvar. It had Mohanlal playing MGR, a cult figure of the neighbouring Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Indo-French production, Vaanaprastham, in which he played the role of a Kathakali dance artist with an identity crisis, won him the second National award for Best actor and was the first film that got him international recognition. The film was selected for the competitive section at the Cannes film festival and his performance was critically acclaimed.
In 2002, Mohanlal acted in his first Bollywood movie, Company, which introduced him to the wider Hindi speaking audience in India. In 2006, the critically acclaimed Malayalam movie, Thanmathra (translated as molecule), won him the Kerala state award for best actor for portraying a person affected by the Alzheimer's disease. His second Bollywood movie Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, which is the remake of the 1975 blockbuster movie Sholay was released in August 2007. Many see this movie as a forgettable episode to Mohanlal's illustrious career, in which he appears strained and struggles with his hindi dialogues.
Mohanlal in Theaters:
Like most other Indian stars, Mohanlal's acting career does not have a theatre background. However he has acted in a few plays. He debuted on the stage as Karna (a character in the Indian epic Mahabharata) in Karnabharam, a Sanskrit play that was premiered in New Delhi as part of the National Theatre Festival. The play depicts Karna's mental agony a day before the Kurukshetra war, when he thinks about his past and his faith.
Kadhayattam, was a presentation enacted by Mohan Lal, depicting 10 unforgettable characters and situations selected from Malayalam literature. He has said that it is his offering to his mother tongue. The presentation is a fusion of stage acting, movie expression, sound and lighting techniques and music, conceived by film director T.K. Rajeev Kumar.
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