INTRODUCTION

Mohanlal Viswanathan is an exemplary iconic actor, who primarily works in Malayalam

cinema. Film Fraternity commends his invaluable contribution to cinema and he is rightly
referred as “The Complete Actor” and “Universal actor. Mohanlal acted in over 300 films
spanning over three decades in various languages such as Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada and Hindi.  He has outperformed himself to be a highly successful businessman,
film distributor, producer, singer, martial artist, wrestler, theater artist, and he is the first actor
in India to be awarded the honorary Lt. Colonel rank in the Indian Army. The Government of
India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth
and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. Mohanlal has won
five National Film Awards, nine Kerala State Film Awards, numerous Filmfare Awards South
and others. He was listed in Forbes list various times and also as most Influential Person
from Kerala. He also holds a place in the Limca Book records as “ People of the Year
Award” in 2009.

EARLY LIFE

Mohanlal was born in the village of Elanthoor in the Pathanamthitta district, Kerala on May
21 , 1960 (Zodiac sign : Gemini), to Vishwanathan Nair, a former bureaucrat and Law
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Secretary with the Kerala government, and Santhakumari, as a younger brother to Pyarelal
(died in 2000, during a military exercise). Mohanlal received his first Best Actor award when
he was in sixth grade at Thiruvananthapuram Model school for a stage play called
‘Computer Boy’ in which he enacted a ninety year old character. Mohanlal received his
Bachelor of commerce degree from the Mahatma Gandhi College, Thiruvananthapuram.
During college days he inculcated acting skills along with sports and he was also Kerala
state wrestling champion in 1977-78. The actor, also known as Lalettan, was an avid
cricketer in his college days. He received honorary doctorates from Sree Sankaracharya
University of Sanskrit in 2010 and from University of Calicut in 2018. Mohanlal was conferred
an honorary Black Belt in Taekwondo by ‘World Taekwondo Headquarters’ by the South
Korean Government. He was the third Indian celebrity to achieve this feat after following
Shah Rukh Khan and Lal Thanhawla. Mohanlal and director Priyadarshan, together
delivered 44 successful movies, were college friends.

PERSONAL LIFE

Mohanlal  got married to Suchitra, daughter of the Tamil film producer K. Balaji, on 28 April
1988. The couple has son Pranav Mohanlal and daughter Vismaya Mohanlal. Pranav is
fascinated towards film and acted in a few films, debuting in Mohanlal's Onnaman.  Family
resides in Kochi and also owns houses in Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ooty,
Mahabalipuram, a villa in Arabian Ranches and a flat in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Mohanlal
enjoys melody music and keeps faith in spirituality.

CAREER

Mohanlal made his acting debut at the age of 18 with the film Thiranottam in 1978, which
was produced and made by his friends. However, the film was delayed for 25 years owing to
censorship difficulties. In 1980, Mohanlal was caught up in a dilemma, whether  to attend the
National Wrestling Championship in Delhi or audition for Navodaya Films, when the dates
clashed. Debut Director Fazil wanted a fresh actor to play the antagonist role in the film
Manjil Virinja Pookkal. He chose to go for auditions and never looked back. Between 1980 to
1983, Mohanlal was credited with more than 25 feature films, mostly negative (villain) roles.
In 1984, Film Ivide Thudangunnu presented him as a hero and viewers received him well.
Next he acted in comedy movie Poochakkoru Mookkuthi with a director friend Priyadarshan.
In 1985, He lent his voice as a playback singer for the film Onnanam Kunnil Oradi Kunnil.
His acting maturity led him to start  Casino Films production house in 1984. His play in
comedy drama T.P Balagopalan M.A earned him the distinction of youngest actor to receive
the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor. His roles in crime dramas Rajavinte Makan and
Irupatham Noottandu entrenched his status as Mollywood leading actor. The tragicomedy
Chitram (1988), as of 2015, still holds the record for the longest-running film in a single-
screen theater (58 weeks). His role in Kireedam, 1989, earned him a special jury mention at
the National Awards.

His Highness Abdullah, the debut film of his own production company, was critically well-
received. Movie Bharatham earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor. In 1997, his
spiritual fantasy film Guru became the first Malayalam movie to be chosen as India's official
entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Mohanlal then played the
challenging role of a Kathakali artist in the Indo-French film Vanaprastham which was
screened at Cannes in 1999. His depiction of a rogue character in the 2000 film Narasimham
was appreciated and the movie went on to become a mega blockbuster hit.

Mohanlal made his debut in Bollywood with the movie Company directed by Ram Gopal
Verma. His South Indian accent was well received by the fans, for which he received an IIFA
award. The Versatile actor kept experimenting himself with diverse roles in movies such as
Thanmathra, where he flawlessly  executed the role of an Alzheimer patient, Kirtichakra,
Hallo, Casanovva, Tamil movie Unnaipol Oryvan, alongside Kamal Hassan, Lokpal, Red
Wine, Geethaanjali, Drishyam, Tamil movie Jilla, alongside Vijay,  Oppam, Manamantha,
Vismayam , Telugu Movie Janatha Garage, alongside Jr. NTR, Pulimurugan, trilingual war
drama 1971: Beyond Borders, Velipadinte Pusthakam, Villain, Aadhi, Neerali, Odiyan, 
Ittymaani: Made in China, Syeraa Narasimha Reddy, and Lucifer. Some of these movies are
of the highest-grossing Malayalam films ever and yielded him with National and State
awards. In 2020, his much awaited sequel Drishyam 2 hit OTT platforms and received stellar
reviews.

BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SERVICE

Mohanlal ventured out various businesses related to film production and distribution,
restaurants, packaged spices among others. He co-owned Casino Films production house in
1980, along with Mammootty and others.  He owns Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments, a
film distribution company. He started Vismayas Max, a film pre and post-production studio
headquartered in Trivandrum and a college for dubbing artists at KINFRA Film and Video
Park, Trivandrum. Later, It was taken over by Sohan Roy of Aries Group.  He has produced
films under the production house Pranavam Arts International. Mohanlal is a self-described
foodie and owns a packaged spice business and has a chain of restaurants in India and
overseas with brand name Mohanlal’s Tastebuds. His other business ventures include
Uniroyal Marine Exports Limited – a Kozhikode-based seafood export company. He is the
co-founder, partner and chairman of Jose Thomas Performing Arts Centre (JTPac) in
Thrippunithura, Kochi.  He is an independent director of Clenergen India Private Limited, a
company for production and supply of biomass feedstock for biomass gasification.

Mohanlal is also known for his philanthropic endeavours. He founded the ViswaSanthi
Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization which was started with the objective of
creating and delivering high impact and focused programs to the underprivileged sections of
society in the areas of Healthcare and Education. Mohanlal is a goodwill ambassador for
Kerala state AIDS campaign, Kerala state Handicrafts, Kerala state Athletics association.

MISCELLANEOUS
Mohanlal enjoys the melodramatic, live acting in theater. His roles include that of Karna in
Karnavaaram, Kadhyattam, Chhayamukhi, and The Tempest. He has also lent his voice in
the dance ballet Maya Ravan. In 2008, Mohanlal secretly underwent 18 months of escape
artist training under famous magician Gopinath Muthukad.

Words fall short to describe Mohanlal. However, The Complete Actor is synonymous with
Mohanlal. He is an icon for many young film stars and can be called “cinema's jack of all
trades and master of many”.