New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Widely regarded as one of the men who transformed the landscape of Indian cinema, Malayalam movie icon Mohanlal is nothing short of a legend. With a spectacular career spanning over four decades and a filmography of over 400 films, he has given countless power-packed performances. Despite his towering legacy, Mohanlal says he is still learning and wants to become a “good actor.”
It was at the age of 18, when Mohanlal made his acting debut with the 1978 Malayalam film Thiranottam, however, it was delayed in its release for 25 years due to censorship issues. The 64-year-old star’s screen debut was in the 1980 romance film Manjil Virinja Pookkal, in which he played the antagonist.
So, what does he think about the tag of being a star?
“I am just learning. This is a process. Let me become a good actor, then I will give you a proper answer,” Mohanlal told IANS.
Over the course of his career, the star has been feted with several honours including A Padma Shri in 2001, a Padma Bhushan in 2019 and in 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army.
With the recognition, love, and honours he has received throughout his career, has he ever experienced moments of self-doubt?
He said: “This is a part of our profession. If you are the best, you will get awards. If your film is good, you will get an award. That is again a very major question. How? Because of the colleagues, because of the script, because of the fact that you are doing a film with a good director. They are shaping us. So the entire credit goes to them. Not with an actor.”
Mohanlal’s latest film is “L2: Empuraan”, a sequel to the 2019 blockbuster “Lucifer.” “L2 Empuraan” has a sprinkle of politics, action, suspense, thrill and mystery just like its first installment.
Asked if he thinks it’s the perfect ingredient to make a blockbuster, the actor, who has been honoured with five National Film Awards, said: “It is how you construct the sequences, how you place a song. It is an intelligent affair. It is not a secret recipe but to be in that format it is a challenging thing. If you need an action then you have to put an action.
“So it is the sequences that create and if you need an emotion then it. So it is a combination of everything. And if the placement is not correct, it is not. It won’t work. But like Lucifer it was a perfect combination. Very well orchestrated, very well constructed script. So script is the main thing. And how you implement that is the brilliance of the director.”
Mohanlal feels no “nervousness” as the film, directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, hits the big screen on March 27.
“We have done a great job. We have come out with a beautiful piece of art. Like he said, this is convincing for us. We have created magic or whatever. And we have done it with full justice, with full integrity. And now we are presenting it to the audience. Please accept it.”
“And that acceptance is already there. So it is not pressure. It is a beautiful relief actually. But tomorrow if it is a success, excellent. Otherwise we have done a job. See you cannot go and correct it. So we should just give our appreciation or our comments of the film to the audience. That is why we are talking. Otherwise we are very cool. We are happy. We are enjoying,” added the star, who in 1977 and 1978 was the Kerala state wrestling champion.
–IANS
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