Mammootty at 75: An extraordinary actor who outlived his stardom

To understand Mammootty is to understand Malayalam cinema If persistence had a face, it might have shades of Mammootty from nearly every angle. The legendary actor, who turns 75 years of age today with an acting career spanning five decades, continues to sharpen his skills, often reinventing himself, to thrive in the Malayalam movie industry and not merely survive as many actors of his age tend to do. The history of Malayalam cinema can be traced through the acting careers of Mammootty and Mohanlal, with the former pushing the boundaries further ahead while the latter is looking at scale and spectacle on screen. To understand Mammootty is to understand Malayalam cinema. Advertisement Not the most natural of actors when he started out in the 1970s, Mammootty's journey has been an equal mix of ambition and periodic reinvention. His obsession with the craft is unparalleled and add to it the innate competitiveness and the hunger to outshine the rest, you have a megastar actor who sets new standards for the industry and himself just about every decade. Be it a sensitive husband, a ruthless don, a flawed police officer, a seasoned politician, fiery lawyer, a feisty businessman, a tough army officer, a flirt, an irritating patriarch or a common man, he would essay characters with élan and impact. In historical roles, no one could hold a candle to him, as Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha would testify. When Mammootty cried, the audience did too (e.g. Kaazcha) and when his imagination soared (e.g. Mathilukal), the viewers soared too. More from Opinion More from Opinion There may be many actors in the country who portray themselves on screen and never the character, but Mammootty isn't one of them. His long career is witness to the ruthlessness of Bhaskara Patelar (Ponthan Mada), sensitivities of a vulnerable man (Bhoothakannadi), the pains of a gay protagonist in Kaathal – The Core, the swagger in Big B or Bheeshmaparvam, the prestigious portrayal of a historical figure like Dr Ambedkar, the sinister feudal patriarch in Bramayugam or the brilliant performance in Thaniyavarthanam, one of his most devastatingly impactful performances. While he could always deliver power packed dialogues with panache, it was the pause between them that created magic. They say that the camera can often pick up what the viewers cannot hear and in Mammootty's case, the camera seemed to love him incessantly. How else can one explain the way in which he could show anger, fear or affection with very few changes in acting styles? Advertisement There was a time in his career around the mid-1980s when people wrote him off after a string of commercial failures. Director Joshy's New Delhi was the last throw of the dice and the movie went on to create box office magic and resurrect Mammootty's career. Since then, it felt like he was on a mission to stamp his authority in the Malayalam film industry. He kept reinventing himself in genres that he had never excelled in previously (comedy, for instance), while never shying away from non-glamorous roles (Mrigaya), even while maintaining the fashion icon image through his distinctive style and mannerisms. The other actors in the industry, except Mohanlal, could not keep pace with his versatility. Every time there was a risk of becoming typecast, he engineered a jail break of his image. It was difficult to guess what form he would take with his next role. He understood that repetition was the greatest risk for an artist, especially in the Malayalam industry with a highly demanding audience. After the turn of the century, he started experimenting a lot more once his status as a megastar was firmly established in the industry. He took risks with new directors and they paid off more often than not. Morally ambiguous roles did not deter him and that gave an edge to his status as a powerful actor who refused to be image conscious. But in all these decades, his screen presence remained thanks to his baritone voice and dominant persona. While he was always well put together, his fashion sense never overpowered his characters and he could walk into a scene and dominate it without saying a word. Advertisement Many actors who started with him have long stopped acting or were cast aside, but Mammootty kept evolving with the times to keep surging ahead. His career seems to tell us that discipline compounds over time and that tomorrow's relevance isn't built on yesterday's lessons. And age? What's that? Mammootty has shown us that age needn't define ambition. He turns 75 today and there seems to be no end to his hunger for roles that he hasn't essayed before. 'I'm a greedy actor,' he once said. 'I need cinema. Cinema doesn't need me,' he said, while explaining why he doesn't have any ego in pursuing directors for a good role even after 50 years in the industry. The country honoured him with the Padma Bhushan this year and that sits alongside multiple national awards for best actor and numerous other accolades. Evidently, he is an institution in himself but he's an institution that never ceases to be a student. (Darlington Jose Hector is a senior journalist based in Bengaluru. The views expressed in this piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.)