Crooning to a diffrent score
Mamta Mohandas may not be a salebale face, but can surely make a career as a playback singer, says KK Moidu
South Indian actress Mamta Mohandas can be aptly described as 'woman of many faces.' Before her debut as a Tollywood heroine, Mamta has proven her musical abilities as a playback singer in Telugu film Rakhi, directed by Krishnavamsi.
After appearing in more than half a dozen Malayalam films and a Tamil project, Mamta has entered the highly competitve Telugu industry.
Mamta hails from Kozhikode in Kerala. She was born and brought up in Bahrain and has done her schooling from Indian School, Bahrain. Mamta had returned to India to complete her higher education.
Mamta began her career as a model. She had appeared in print ads for big banners like IBM, Kalyan Kendra.etc and was also ramp model for Raymonds and Mysore Maharaja.
Her foray into films is pure luck. Mamta, who is a trained Karnatic and Hindustani classical singer wanted to be a playback artiste. But fate had something else in store for her. Mamta was introduced to veteran director Hariharan by Sreedevi, mother of late Malayalam actress Monisha.
Thus in 2005, Mamta made her debut in Malayalam in Mayookham, directed by Hariharan. Although she had no previous experience in acting, her stint in modelling helped her to do things as per director's instructions.
Eventhough Mayookham bombed at the box office, the movie's failure didn't affect her career. After Mayookham, the actress was cast by director VM Vinu as a Muslim girl in the Malayalam movie Bus Conductor. In this movie, Mamta is seen as Mammootty's sister and her performance didn't go unnoticed.
Mamta shocked her fans with her portrayal of 'Lanka Lakshmi' in the erotic thriller Lanka, directed by AK Sajan. Suresh Gopi was in the lead role 'Sravan' in this movie.
Mamta's challenging performance didn't work in the favour of the film, but she got a chance to pair as a heroine opposite a senior superstar Suresh Gopi.
Lanka is being dubbed in Telugu as Pokiri Pilla and the actress has pinned her hopes on the success of the film.
Her next film with Suresh Gopi was Albhutham, directed by the National Award winning director Jayaraj. Albhutham was the fourth movie in the 'navarasa' series directed by Jayaraj. The earlier movie in this series include Karunam, Shantam and Beebalsam.
Albhutham was completed in a record time of less than three hours in Ramoji Rao Film City in Hyderabad. Mamta's character Maria played an important role in this film.
In Madhuchandralekha directed by Rajasenan, Mamta acted as the model Indulekha. Mamta was the second heroine in the movie. The lead heroine was Urvashi, who won the Best Actress State Award for her performance as Chandramati. Jayram is the hero.
Mamta was supposed to do the heroine's role in the superhit movie Keerthichakra, directed by Major Ravi. But she opted out due to her earlier commitments. The lead role Major Mahadevan was portrayed by Mohanlal and the principal female character was done by Lakshmi Gopalaswamy.
Lady luck smiled on Mamta with the box office grosser Baba Kalyani, an action thriller directed by Shaji Kailas. Mamta's does the role of a lawyer in this movie. Madhumita (Mamta) is the villain's daughter and the hero's (Mohanlal) love interest. The movies phenomenal success boosted her popularity, despite the fact that she had very little to do in the film.
Her recent release Big B directed by Amal Neerad, Mamta appears as one of the heroines of superstar Mammootty. She earned fame within a short span of time by apperaing alongside senior superstars Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi.
After doing few films in Malayalam, like her seniors in the industry, Mamta shifted her focus to Tamil. She made her debut in the Tamil film Sivappathigaram directed by Karu Pazhaniappan.
The movie's lead Vishal plays an angry young man Sathyamoorthy, who begins a crusade against the corrupt political system. Mamta plays a typical Tamil heroine in this film.
Although Sivappathigaram had all the necessary ingredients for a potboiler and a strong social message, it didn't make any ripples at the box office. The only highlight of the movie was Vidyasagar's music.
Mamta had already caught the attention of Tollywood directors for being chosen as Sidharth's heroine in the Telugu film Aata. But she was replaced by Ilena, a leading Telugu heroine. Mamta was supposed to sing a number for this movie. Thus it became a double loss for this singer-actress.
After Malayalam and Tamil, Mamta is now focussing on Telugu. Her upcoming projects include Hare Rama Hare Krishna (HRHK), Yamadonga and Don, wherein she will appear with bigwigs of the industry.
HRHK will be directed by Trivikram Srinivas and Mamta will be cast alongside Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu. The movie's producer states that HRHK will be a mass entertainer.
Big budget Yamadonga, written and directed by SS Rajamouli will have NTR Jr as Mamta's hero. The new project will have actor Mohanbabu in an important role. The duo NTR Jr and Rajamouli had earlier created the superhit movies Student No.1 and Simhadri. Like other Rajamouli films, MM Keeravani will be composing the music.
Mamta's forthcoming Don produced by ML Kumar Chaudhary is made by Kriti Creations. Actor Nagarjuna will play double roles, one as a hero, other as a villain. Director Raghava Lawrence, who has already proved his talent as a craftsman, choreographer and as an artiste, will make his debut as a music director in Don. Script and dialogue of the film is done by Bommarillu and Annavaram fame Abburi Ravi.
Mamta's entry as a playback singer was purely incidental. While she was humming a tune all to herself at AVM studio, music director Devi Sri Prasad spotted her talent and gave her a chance to sing the title song in Rakhi. The song turned out to be a big hit. None of the listeners could discern the fact that Rakhi's title track was sung by a non-Telugu girl.
In Malayalam, Mamta has been a heroine for senior superstars and in Telugu her movies with frontliners, are slowly becoming a major crowdpuller. The actress is very lucky in one aspect. Eventhough she may not be a salebale face in Telugu cinema, Mamta can surely make a career as a playback singer.
