Impressive Innings: Mammootty

IMPRESSIVE INNINGS

MAMMOOTTY DONS THE UNIFORM OF A POLICE OFFICER FOR THE 25TH TIME IN ROWDRAM, SCRIPTED AND DIRECTED BY RENJI PANIKKAR, WRITES KK MOIDU


20 TIME OUT The Gulf Today / Thursday, September 27, 2007
In Rowdram, Mammootty
once again plays the role of a
brave cop, which made him
the best in the industry. His
character Narendran, nicknamed
‘Nari,’ is an Assistant Police
Commissioner in the film.
Narendran is an honest police officer
and always stands for truth and
justice. This quality irritates many
people in his own department. He
always fights against evils and will
do anything to defeat them and protect
the life and property of the public.
Narendran is the son of a police
officer who lost his life on duty. He
is a direct appointment to the
department with the special permission
of the chief minister as the
Assistant Commissioner of
Ernakulam. He is assigned to prove
a murder case that happened in
Kochi. But a battalion of enemies
are waiting for Narendran in the
city and they play dirty games to
make the investigation more complicated.
Sai Kumar is the villain of the
film and debutante Manju plays the
heroine role as Narendran’s wife.
She is from Ernakulam near
Cherthala and is doing a fashion
designing course in Chennai.
Mammootty is well-known in
films for his police officer personification,
especially for his style and
dialogue delivery. His first police
officer role in Yavanika, which was
directed by KG George, propelled
his career to new heights. The performances
of Mammootty in the
khakhi uniform has never harmed
the producers.
Mammootty celebrated his 54th
birthday on Sept.7, on the sets of
Rowdram. The film is directed by
Renji Panikkar who is one of the
best in creating strong dialogues.
Rowdram is Renji Panikkar’s second
film as a director and his 14th
as a script writer. His maiden directorial
venture, superhit Bharath
Chandran IPS, was also a police
story. Suresh Gopi played the title
role in the film and he regained his
superstar status with that film.
Renji, with his articulate writing
skills, has not only been credited
for the success of many Mohanlal
and Suresh Gopi films but also created
the superhit film The King with
Mammootty.

The King, scripted by Renji
Panikkar, was released 10 years ago
and was directed by Shaji Kailas.
Mammootty played the central
character as a collector and it turned
out to be the biggest hit of that year.
Rowdram, produced by
Marikkar Films and scheduled to be
a Christmas release, will have
enough action and punch lines.
Other cast members include Lalu
Alex, Vijayaraghavan and several
regulars from the industry.
The title of the film Rowdram
was changed to Showryam, but after
a week the director chose to stick to
the old title Rowdram. In a few
months time, the film will finally
appear on the screen.
Mammootty last appeared on
screen as a cop in Balram v
Tharadas directed by IV Sasi. He
played a double role in the film, one
as a police officer and another as a
don. Although the movie was a box
office disaster, his performance as a
police officer was much appreciated.
Mammootty has played heroic
roles in more than 300 films in different languages. ALaw graduate,
he started his film career as a junior
artist in Anubhavangal Palichakal
in 1971. His first film as an actor
was Devalokam and it was not
released in theatres. MTVasudevan
Nair and KG George played important
roles in moulding the his career,
having given him the opportunity
with Vilkanundu Swapnangal and
Mela.

Mammootty’s first superhit film
as a hero was Thrishna directed by
IV Sasi. After the success of the
film, Mammootty and IV Sasi
together created many hits.
Mammootty’s talent was later
tapped by directors of international
repute like Adoor Gopalakrishnan,
Pavithran and TV Chandran.
In a period of five years from ‘82
to ‘87 Mammootty has acted in
more than 150 films as a hero. Very
few actors in the world of cinema
have done such a large number of
heroic roles within a short period of
time. Mammootty created a record
earlier by acting in 35 films in a single
year.

However, the turning point in
Mammootty’s career was New
Delhi, directed by Joshi and
released in 1987. The actor almost
lived the role of the film’s central
character, G Krishnamurthy, a journalist,
who takes revenge against his
politician enemies, for victimising
him. Mammootty’s completion of
the role was widely appreciated and
it propelled him to super-stardom.
Mammootty has won several
awards in the long span of more
than two-and-a-half decade’s as an
actor. He started his award hunting
in 1981 for the film Ahimsa, with a
second best actor award.
His role as Karunan in
Adiyozhukkukal directed by IV Sasi
got him the Best Actor State Award
and Filmfare Award. Mammootty
won the State special jury award
and best actor Filmfare award for
Yathra directed by Balu Mahendra.
The film proved to be one of the
best in Mammootty’s career. He
shaved his hair for the film, only
one example for his efforts to play
his character perfectly.
Mammootty fetched the best
actor National and State Award for
his role as Chanthu in Oru
Vadakkan Veeragadha. The film
was directed by Hariharan and
penned by literary genius MT
Vasudevan Nair. Mammootty’s performance
in Mathilukal directed by
Adoor Gopalakrishnan was also
considered for the award.
Mathilukal was based on a novel by
literary great Vaikkom Muhammed
Basheer and Mammootty received
the Filmfare Award for his performance.
His role as a hunter Varunni
in Mrugaya, directed by IV Sasi,
and another film Mahayanam, was
also examined for the State Award.
Mammootty won the Filmfare
award for Amaram directed by
Bharathan. He played the role of an
uneducated fisherman who dreams
of making his only daughter a doctor.


Mammootty immortalised the
roles in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s
Vidheyan and TV Chandran’s
Ponthanmada. He received the Best
Actor National and State Award for
his fulfillment of the roles in both
films. His performance in
Valsalyam was also judged for the
State Award.
Mammootty not only won the
National Best Actor Award for Dr
Baba Saheb Ambedkar directed by
Jabbar Patel but also obtained international
fame. His last State Best
Actor Award was for the film
Kaazhcha directed by Blessy.
Mammootty is a winner of nine
film critic awards and he also won
the prestigious Filmfare legendary
actor award in 2007. He was triumphant
of the Etisalat Everest
Award for Best Actor selected
through a poll. It was an award for
the best actor for all time
Malayalam Cinema.
The Government of India honoured
Mammootty with a ‘Padma
Shri’ in 1998 in recognition of his
contribution to cinema.
He created not only super hits in
Malayalam but also in other languages.
He made his Tamil debut in
Maunam Sammatham . He has
acted in Tamil films with front-line
directors of the industry like K
Balachander and Mani Rathnam.
His performance along with superstar
Rajnikanth in Thalapathi made
him a favourite in Tamil. His other
Tamil film Kandukondain
Kandukondain directed by Rajeev
Menon was also a superhit. His costars
of the film were Aishwarya
Rai, Tabu and Ajith.
His other Tamil super hit films
are Marumalarchi, Arasiyal and
Makkal Aachi. Fazil directed
Kalippoch Kelkkava was another
successful film that gained box
office victory by competing with
Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan
films in Tamil Nadu.
After a long interval,
Mammootty is acting in a new
Tamil film. Tamil action hero Arjun
is also doing an important role in
the film and the film will have two
heroines — Mamta Mohandas and
Sneha. Mammootty’s last Tamil
film was Viswa Thulasi. His acting
was noticed in the film but the film
was a box office disaster.
Mammootty tried his luck in
Bollywood but he couldn’t repeat
his south Indian success in Hindi
films. He made his Hindi debut in
an arty film Thriyathri . His first
commercial film was
Dharthiputhra which bombed at
the box office. Mammootty’s Sau
Jhooth Ek Sach won critical
acclaim but the film didn’t do well
at the box office.
Mammootty’s Telugu film
Swathikiran was a superhit but the
remake in Malayalam titled
Pramanam was a failure on home
turf.
For Mammootty, the year 2007
started with the big hit Mayavi.
Then followed Big B, Mission 90
Days and Ore Kadal but none of
the films performed well at the
box office. But his part of the
films were applauded and his role
as Dr Nathan in Ore Kadal
became another best in his career.
Mammootty’s Ramadan
release, Nazrani, directed by
Joshi, is a sure winner at the box
office. Another project in the
pipeline, Pazhassiraja, directed by
Hariharan based on the script of
MT Vasudevan Nair, is also tipped
to be a winner.

After learning from his earlier
box office flops, Mammootty has
given up acting in many films
together at the same time. But now
he has returned to his old style
because he does not want to miss
good offers coming his way.
During the last few months,
Mammootty has acted in many
films at the same time. He is still
working on different projects like
Pazhassiraja, Vandematharam
and Katha Parayumbol. He is also
in a superstar role in
Kathaparayumbol which is produced
by Mukesh and scripted by
Sreenivasan.

Other forthcoming projects of
the superstar are Theeppetti
Chandran and he is doing a double
role in a film directed by
Anvar Rasheed. He will also play
a pivotal role in the multi starrer
AMMAwhich features Mohanlal,
Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Dilip and
Prithviraj.
Mammootty is also acting in an
English film The Late Night
Beggar.
In an eventful career spanning
more than 25 years, Mammootty is
not only enjoying a megastar status
in Malayalam cinema but is also
merited with securing prestigious
awards. He has secured a place in
the hearts of people — but his thirst
for acting still remains.
Mammootty has tasted failure
several times but he has an uncanny
ability of bouncing back. After
all, Mammootty, the super hero of
Malayalam cinema, is the last word
in personality and talent. And he is
continuing his journey of success.
The Gulf Today / Thursday, September 27, 2007 TIME OUT 21
CINEMA