Mohanlal Viswanathan, known popularly among Indians as Mohanlal or Lalettan, made his first appearance in Mollywood with the 1978 film Thiranottam. However, he became popular with his antagonist role as Narendran in the 1980 film Manjil Virinja Pookkal. Now 'Shanmugham' is breaking the box-office records of 'Georgekutty', 'Murugan' and 'Khureshi Ab'raam'.
Here's looking back at the legendary actor’s milestones over a 45-year-long career:
Five National awards
Mohanlal has won the National Film Award for Best Actor twice — Bharatham in 1991 and Vanaprastham in 1999. Vanaprastham also won the National Award for Best Feature Film (produced by Mohanlal). Mohanlal also won a couple of special jury awards for Kireedam in 1989 and Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol in 2017.
Most Kerala State Film awards
Mohanlal has won the Kerala State Film Awards nine times, including six best actor awards (T P Balagopalan M.A in 1987; Ulladakkam, Kilukkam, and Abhimanyu in 1992; Kaalapani in 1996, Vanaprastham in 2000, Thanmathra in 2006, Paradeshi in 2008). He holds the record for most Kerala State Film Awards for a lead role, along with Mammootty and Urvashi.
Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan
Mohanlal is the first South Indian actor to be awarded both Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, the fourth highest civil honour in India and the Padma Bhushan in 2019, the third highest civil honour in India. He was also the first Indian actor to be honoured by the Territorial Army with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2009.
Versatile and multi-language actor
Mohanlal has maintained his stardom over four decades by portraying a wide range of characters across various genres, depicting complex emotions and various mental states. He has played different types of ordinary Indians through these years across more than four languages. Mohanlal has appeared in the films of leading actors from other industries including Kamal Hassan, Amitabh Bachan, and Rajinikanth. He was also nominated for the Filmfare award in the Best Actor category for the Tamil film Iruvar (1997).
Box-office domination
Mohanlal films have ruled the box-office records for years. The 2013 film Drishyam grossed over 75 cr and became the first Malayalam film to cross 50 cr. In 2016, Pulimurugan became the first Malayalam film to gross over 100 crores. His recent films L2: Empuraan and Thudarum have broken multiple box-office records. Mohanlal is the only Malayalam actor to have multiple films in both 100 and 200-cr clubs.
