Mammootty VS Mohanalal1903957

Mammootty got off to a much more conservative start, initially working within his areas of strength. His performance in movies such as 'Adiozhukkukal', 'Aksharangal' and 'Alkootathil Thaniye' proved that he could lend gravitas to weighty and serious roles, but there wasn't anything, yet, to suggest the industry had a legend in the making. However, that started changing with movies such as 'Vidheyan', 'Vadakkan Veeragatha', 'Bhoothakannadi', 'Thaniyavarthanam', 'Ponthanmada' and 'Mrigaya'.

Mollywood has many stars but everyone knows that the game changing histrionics are only showcased by the two big Ms – Mohanlal and Mammootty. While Mohanlal has tried to match up to the roles played by Mammootty since his early days, nowadays Mammootty is planning to return the favour. Recently both the actors were raided by the IT dept simultaneously. Mammootty then introduced his personal assistant, S George, into production. Many saw this as an act similar to the efforts by Mohanlal to back his much successful assistant Anthony Perumbavoor into production.

Mammootty is now all set to team up with director Rosshan Andrrews, who has directed Mohanlal in Casanova, for a political thriller. Many see this as a ploy by Mammootty to regain his ‘hit’ streak which has been blotted by his recent releases. Though more details are awaited the scriptwriters have been revealed – the Bobby-Sanjay duo of Traffic fame. Watch this space for more.

ACTORS:

The 1st thing that comes to my mind, when I compare these two actors is the number of times these two have won national awards. Where a natural actor Mohanlal could only fetch one, a method actor Mammootty has done it thrice. Ever wondered why a more natural actor could not fetch more national awards? As a normal viewer look the films these two have done in last 10 years or so and try to see the variety of characters you could remember or where you have felt that they given an impressive performance? For Mohanlal, I would say, Paradesi, Pakal Nakshatrangal  and a couple of Blessy movies, that’s it. Rest of the movies you look, you can see Mohanlal repeating one of his old roles again and again. Same way, when I look at Mammootty, Pranchiyettan, Palerimanikyam, Loud speaker, Kutty Srank, Ore Kadal, Kaiyoppu, Karutha pakshikal, even Rajamanikyam would count. The difference lies in the fact that, even for a mediocre commercial film, Mammootty tries to put something from his end to make his character different. This is where Mohanlal is missing the trick and you end up seeing him repeating the same in all Sathyan Anithikad movies, Priyadarshan or all those action movies.

DIRECTORS:

One Of Lal’s best friend director Priyadarshan always hails how wonderful actor Mohalal is. When I saw the promo of his recent movie with Mohanlal, I felt really sad. With the promo itself you get that it’s a mixture of all his previous movies. Another director who told Mohanlal as the most natural actor is Renjith. Would you have liked to see Mohanlal doing a Paleri Manikyam or Pranjiyettan ? Does anyone think he cannot do those roles? Of course not, but the issues seems that, most people know Mohanlal will not put that extra effort or he has his comfort zone, from where he doesn’t want to come out. That’s where Mammootty makes the difference with these movies. Mammootty knows his limitations and he always puts in that extra effort to make each films characters looks different, where as a natural actor Mohanlal, may be since he himself thinks that he don’t have to put that effort, you only see Mohanlal and not characters

FANS:

I think the kind of movies these two accept has a major impact of their fan base also. If you ask a Mohanlal fan, the best two movies he has acted, they will probably miss to say “Vanaprastham” and “Iruvar” which according to me, no actor in the country would have done it more effortlessly. Why are fans missing these films? They don’t like Mohanlal that way ? Same question -if you ask a Mammootty fan, you will definitely get one among his national award performances. That gives him more strength to do films like a “Kaiyoppu” or “Loud speaker”. One recent evidence which shows Mohanlal fans didn’t approve him on trying different roles was the release of his 300th movie. Pranayam, where Mohanlal tried to essay a different role, wasn’t considered by the fans as his 300th movie, instead they chose the Sathyan Anithkad movie “Sneha veedu”. Snehaveedu might be a good movie, but I could not see a Mohan Lal any different in that from the last few Sathyan Anithikad movies (Rasathanthram, Innathe chitha vishayam).

There is no doubt that, Mohanlal is a wonderful actor. But for him to deliver, the so-called directors, who only praise him and not give him good roles, have to change. The big fan base he has, they need to accept him in his best performances. And most importantly, Mohanlal himself need to decide and put in that effort to showcase the talent he has got. Else, we will often get to see one of the finest natural actor getting more worst actor awards (Oru nal varum).