To be very frank, when I saw Manjil Virinja Pookkal back in 1980, I did not notice Mohanlal.
To me he was just a newcomer.
I started noticing Mohanlal when he, along with Srinivasan, began making some excellent comedies with director Satyan Anthikad. They were memorable films.
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Two faces of Mohanlal became popular at the time: the actor with amazing comic timing, and the actor of films like T P Balagopalan M A, Varavelppu, and Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam.
The second genre had no comedy or action. In these, he was a very straightforward, simple, gullible and sensible man, who took up the responsibility of his family. This face of Mohanlal won instant sympathy, especially from the female audience. Men who faced similar circumstances also identified with him.
This was the second phase of Mohanlal's career, after his roles as a villain.
The films that Mohanlal produced, like His Highness Abdullah and Kamaladhalam, showed his affinity to music and the arts. They also showcased the third phase in his career: the physically strong, brave man. A sakala kala vallabhan (master of all trades), outsmarting others in all fields.
This phase reached its peak in films like Ravana Prabhu and Narasimham, where Mohanlal was a super hero who twirled his moustache all the time.
There were also films like Vaanaprastham and, to an extent, Bharatham, where you saw a totally different Mohanlal. This Mohanlal cannot be slotted in any category. Interestingly, the actor produced these movies too.
Mohanlal is a favourite of the masses and classes because of the ease with which he switches from one role to another.
Recently, over the last five-six years, he started concentrating only on one kind of film. He moved away from roles where he was just an ordinary human being. That is when his fans started moving away from him.
It is not really his decline nor will I hold Mohanlal responsible for this. I hold the filmmakers at fault. Take, for example, director Venu Nagavalli, a self-confessed Mohanlal fan. He raised Mohanlal to a level of divinity from where he could just not come down.
But Kilichundan Mambazham heralded a deliberate attempt to move away from those superman roles. I hope we get to see the Mohanlal we like and miss very much. It could be Mohanlal's second innings.
He has such enormous talent. And, at 43, it's the right time to branch out from the 'physical' Mohanlal to the 'thinking' Mohanlal. Nobody can match him in comedy. Age is no barrier for comedians anyway.
If you take ten actors who have really made a difference to Malayalam cinema, Mohanlal will undoubtedly be in the top five.
I would not put him in the top slot, but he would definitely be at the third or fourth spot. But he could reach the top if he manages his career well.
(Balagopala Kurup, 53, is an assistant general manager with the Indian Overseas Bank. He has been following Mohanlal's career closely and has seen almost all of his films.)
As told to Shobha Warrier
