Mohanlal Vishwanathan Nair or Mohanlal was born in 1960 in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala. Mohanlal, till date, is one of the most spontaneous actors that the sub-continent has seen. Being a committed actor he has never shied away from experimenting with his roles. His cult roles will always be an instance to follow for the upcoming actors. Aadu Thoma in Spadikam, Jagannadhan in Aaram Thamburan, Induchoodan in Narasimham and Mullankolli Velayudhan in Naran are some of his memorable roles in this particular genre.

He was first seen on the silver screen as an anti hero in Manjil Virinja Pookkal. There was no looking back for Mohanlal after this film. According to industry sources in 1983 he appeared in over 25 feature films. Amongst these films his memorable film would be Uyarangalil that was scripted by M.T.Vasudevan Nair and directed by I. V. Sasi. Priyadarshan`s debut Poochakkoru Mookkuthi gave him the opportunity to experiment with the comic genre. During the Golden era of Malayalam cinema Mohanlal was offered roles that provide him with the scope to experiment with a variety of roles. Mohanlal was established as one of the undisputed kings of Malayalam films. Sathyan Anthikad`s T.P.Balagopalan M.A, Rajavinte Makan, Thalavattom, Sanmanassu Ullavarku Samadhanam, M.T.Vasudevan Nair`s Panchagni, Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal and Gandhi Nagar 2nd Street established him as a versatile actor. Mohanlal was successful in exploiting the various genres of commercial cinema as well.

Directors like Sreenivasan and Sathyan Anthikkad cast him in social satires. Nadodikkattu was one such film where he played the role of an unemployed youth and in Varavelpu he was a man who returned from Gulf after years. However movies like Chithram and Kilukkam were hard-core commercial movie, which witnessed him in the conventional roles of an Indian romantic hero. Both these films were directed by Mani Ratnam. He set himself apart from the crowd with Priyadarshan`s Kalapani and Kanmadam by Lohithadas. His film Guru was the official entry for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1997. Apart from the Malayalam films Mohanlal had by then started acting in other languages as well. He teamed up once again with Mani Ratnam and appeared in Iruvar, a Tamil film. He played the role of MGR with perfection.

Mohanlal bagged the Special Jury award at National Awards for the role of Sethu Madhavan in Kireedam. His first National Award in the Best Actor category came with Bharatham where he portrayed the role of an envious classical singer. Vaanaprastham established Mohanlal as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema. Directed by one of the best Malayalam directors, Shaji Karun, the film fetched him a National Award. Here he played the role of a Kathakali dancer, Kunhikuttan, who confuses his real life and stage life.

Filmography of Mohanlal

Malayalam Films :