In his interviews, one often sees the articulate Mammootty using the word ‘aarthi’ (greed) to define his love for acting. This passion for his craft has persisted with him all through his career, and it has inspired him to make choices that not many of his stature would lap up with excitement.
It was towards the late ‘80s and early ‘90s that Mammootty’s stardom skyrocketed, but even then, he didn’t confine himself to just crowd-pleasing star vehicles. The fact that he did New Delhi and Anantharam the same year tells a lot about his hunger to bridge a gap between avant garde and mainstream cinema.
Mammootty always ensured his filmography was frequently punctuated with quality cinema that utilised the best of his limitless potential as an actor. His stardom also meant these films that would have otherwise been limited to the festival circuits were accessible for the general public.
We are now at the 30th anniversary of one such landmark experiment that saw him play a tyrannical landlord to perfection. In Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Vidheyan, Mammootty turned up as Bhaskara Pattelar, who revels in power and relishes himself as the personification of evil. It is only poetic that three decades later, Mammoootty has got to portray a character with similar shades in his latest release, Bramayugam.
Like Pattelar, Kodumon Potty is also a power-hungry terrifying figure, albeit with a supernatural twist. But the similarities end with the characteristics. From gait to gestures, every other attribute is different — a hallmark of his versatility.
Ponthan Mada (1994)
Ponthan Mada is a compelling film set in pre-Independence Kerala, focusing on the unlikely friendship between a labourer from a marginalised caste, Ponthan Mada (Mammootty), and an expelled British soldier Sheema Thampuran (Naseeruddin Shah). Mammootty’s performance as Ponthan is a standout, marked by its depth, emotional range, and physical transformation. He portrays the character’s vulnerability, capturing the essence of a marginalised individual’s relation to social hierarchies and bond with a landlord. Director T V Chandran called Mammootty “the soul of the movie”. “He took a lot of risks. We had shot non-stop for 40 days and all throughout he was working, wearing just a thorthu (cotton towel). There were scenes where he had to work with and chase buffaloes. He insisted on doing the scenes, refused to use a body double. It was a physically gruelling role. Majority of it had him on top of an areca palm and every morning he had to climb it and would be there for most of the day,” the ace director recalled in an interview.
Bhoothakkannadi (1997)
Bhoothakkannadi is an emotionally unsettling film that delves into the psychological unravelling of Vidyadharan (Mammootty), a small-town watch repairer and widower consumed by grief and the harsh realities of life. Triggered by the murder of a village girl close to him, Vidyadharan takes a life, setting off a chain of events that distort his perception and send him spiraling into paranoia. Masterfully portrayed by Mammootty, Vidyadharan is a complex character, oscillating between vulnerability and unsettling intensity. His eyes, often reflecting inner turmoil, become the film’s ‘bhoothakannadi’ or ‘magnifying glass’ magnifying the cracks in his sanity. Mammootty delivers a nuanced performance, conveying Vidyadharan’s grief, guilt, sexual repression and warped sense of justice with raw emotional depth. There is a scene towards the end where his actual mental status is revealed – boy, oh, boy, Mammukka crushes the viewer’s souls. Though the film wasn’t a box office success, it garnered critical acclaim, and Mammootty’s performance remains etched in cinematic history. Director Lijo Jose Pellissery once called it the greatest ever performance in history. His portrayal is both unsettling and captivating, forcing viewers to confront the fragility of the human psyche. The film received the National Award for Best Debut of a Director (Lohithadas), and Mammootty picked up the Filmfare award for best actor.
Kaiyoppu (2007)
Here, Mammootty is Balachandran, an entrepreneur who is an aspiring novelist going through writer’s block. A warm character, and the actor plays him subtly. A lonely person who makes a difference in many people’s lives even from within his introverted space. Director Ranjith, through Kaiyoppu and Balachandran, moves away from obnoxious, powerful and larger-than-life heroes to a quiet one. And Mammootty’s performance further elevated this movie, which flows like poetry. Warm, subtle, emotional at moments, loud when required, awkward in its essence, but, always kind, he becomes all of these and more through Balachandran. Mammootty makes us experience the nuances of Balachandran’s character – the creative choking, ultrasensitivity to things happening around him, and love.
Dany (2001)
T V Chandran’s Dany tells the story of Daniel Thomas aka Dany, who was a singer at one point in his life and later became a saxophone player. In several stages of Dany’s life, he plays different roles – such as a husband to a rich woman, and a father to a son who was conceived by his wife from her past relationship. He plays many things, but never becomes anything in his life. He is never loved and, eventually, gets isolated by everyone. Interestingly, many of the occurrences in his life happen on days of historical importance. For instance, Dany was born on the day when Mahatma Gandhi started the Dandi March. He, however, remains ignorant of the historical happenings. Dany gets dumped by his family, and seeks refuge in a hospital. There he meets Bhargavy Amma, played by Mallika Sarabhai. Ultimately, he finds solace in death. Does he? Mammootty, who plays the ever-lonely Dany, delivers an exemplary performance, especially while portraying the different stages of his life. He magically transmits the ‘lonely in the crowd’ feeling to the viewers. The film won the National Award.
(2007) Ore Kadal
In Ore Kadal, we see an at-ease Mammootty shed his alleged reticence and embrace his character’s role as an unfussy womaniser caught up in a tangle of sex, drugs and alcohol. The story, based on the Bengali novel ‘Hirak Deepthi’ by Sunil Gangopadhyay, centres around the extra-marital affair between
Dr S R Nathan, a self-centred and alcoholic economist, and a woman next door. With his unique gait, gaze and the hazy way he delivers the lines, Mammootty essays the role of Nathan to perfection. Even if you don’t agree with the character’s philosophies, the megastar’s on-screen presence is difficult to ignore. The Shyamaprasad-helmed film brings all the top qualities of this seasoned star to the fore. Ore Kadal, which ultimately explores the mayhem that makes or breaks a relationship, was chosen as the inaugural film of the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India.
Mammoth Ikka!
Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha (2009)
This murder mystery has Mammootty in a triple role, the only such outing in his career, and it’s needless to say that the portrayals are as different as chalk and cheese. The viewer sees three distinct characters; not one star in three roles. Among them, it is his performance as Murikkinkunnath Ahmed Haaji, a serial womaniser and feudal landlord akin to Vidheyan’s Pattelar, that takes the cake. Directed by Ranjith, the film also saw Mammootty employing his mastery over dialects in full effect. Haaji speaks in a raw Kozhikodan Muslim dialect, which many other actors usually make a mockery of. Fittingly, his terrific performance in the film won him a Kerala State Award for Best Actor.
Munnariyippu (2014)
In this Venu directorial, Mammootty plays a prisoner convicted for double homicide, serving 20 years beyond his official prison term. C K Raghavan is a tough nut to crack and doesn’t let anyone read his mind. Even when a young journalist attempts to get closer to his vault of secrets, Raghavan keeps his cards close to his chest till the point he feels enough is enough. It is such a complex character to play as even the minutest of expressions would reveal his true colours, but Mammootty’s measured performance ensures nothing spills out. It’s no exaggeration that the man has a library of smiles, and he handpicks a creepy one for Raghavan to leave us haunted forever.
Kutty Srank (2010)
Kutty Srank is an arthouse film helmed by award-winning director Shaji N Karun. Mammootty, who plays the titular role, essays three characters. Not three roles as most would presume, but variations of a single character. The film was divided into different settings to highlight this — a departure from the narrative styles commonly followed, a classic ‘Shaji N Karun move’. This feat was made possible in a variety of ways – geographical locations, seasons and more. But what equally separated and glued the entire film together was the effectiveness with which Mammootty was able to portray the three characters, each with their distinct behavioural patterns and mannerisms. In a way, the role brought ‘serious’ back to Malayalam cinema at a time when the norm was the bombastic. The film won the national award for Best Feature Film along with three other awards. Many believe Mammootty was also deserving of an award for this role.
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2022)
NNM came at a time when director Lijo Jose Pellissery had established a cult following, with fans analysing each frame for underlined or layered meanings. But he subverts expectations along with Mammootty in this sojourn of a movie. A peiece of cinema so calming, a set of characters with their seemingly simple lives and sedate pace, however, with a touch of the supernatural. The temperamental James, a Malayali who is irritable about anything Tamil, one afternoon after nap wakes up as Sundaram, a proud Tamilian. Mammooty’s portrayal fluctuates from the subtle to the dramatic as he becomes two-in-one. His transformation from James to Sundaram is so seamless that we, the audience, can only marvel. He accepts and takes in the loudness of Sundaram easily. And he makes you attached to the characters effortlessly. While the performance won him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor, fans still hunt for hidden detailing in the film – including Mammooty’s eye movements.
Kaathal – The Core (2023)
In Jeo Baby’s Kaathal, Mammootty is in a familiar space — a family man, with a wife, a daughter and an aging father. However, what sets this performance apart here is the subtle way he reveals a man who struggles with his self and identity. Micheal Devassy is about to compete in local elections, while his wife Omana (Jyotika) files for divorce, citing that he is a homosexual. His nuanced portrayal of a struggling man within a loveless marriage, a father who has to hide his real self from his daughter, his reserved nature towards society at large, stoic relation with his father, and the expressive eyes towards his purported lover. Within his put-together exterior, Mammootty contains multitudes.
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000)
Robert De Neiro was one of the leading choices of director Jabbar Patel for the biopic on B R Ambedkar, slated to be of the magnitude of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. But the American actor, though keen to do the role, backed off as he was not confident about his accent. It was then that Patel saw a picture of Mammootty, and superimposed it on Ambedkar’s. He finally got his Ambedkar. Mammootty, meanwhile, felt all that Ambedkar and he had in common was that both had been lawyers. Plus, he would have to shave his mustache off. It took some coaxing from the likes of Adoor Gopalakrishnan to finally get Mammootty to do the role. The challenge was there was no ready reckoner on how Ambedkar walked, talked, interacted, etc. Everything had to come out of research. But finally, when the film was commercially launched in 2000, there was no Mammootty on screen. There was just Ambedkar – with all his physical puffiness and the very understated, yet matter-of-fact body language, erudition on polity, and sensitivity for the Indian masses. The film was bilingual, in English and Hindi. Mammooty’s performance won several laurels, including the National Award for the Best Actor.
Peranbu (2019)
Peranbu is far from being a tale of love between a father and a daughter. It is a total story of compassion, which helps lead the way in the cautious tread of narrow tracks between relationships and life’s challenges. Mammootty’s portrayal as Amudhavan, first totally lost at reaching out to his teenage daughter with cerebral palsy, and then as her guardian fighting for general treatment of children with such disabilities makes him appear as a stellar picture of compassion. His role is vivid with so many hues of compassion that not just limits to his daughter but stretches to people who enter his life. In this, he doesn’t allow social stops to interfere in his understanding or acceptance. One of the women who helps him is a trans-sexual, who later becomes his partner. His portrayal hinted that Mammootty knew well it was the emotion – and not him – that was the protagonist of the film. His work was to bear it well. Leaving the audience writhing in cold comfort. His merger with the role won him applause at home and globally too, after it was shown at the Rotterdam film festival.
The post-2000s phase saw Mammootty portraying a wide array of characters, ranging from a cold-blooded killer to a closeted gay man
(Compiled by Vignesh Madhu, S Neeraj Krishna, Krishna P S, Aparna Nair, Ronnie Kuriakose & Mahima Anna Jacob)
