Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, television host and film distributor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada-language films.[1][2][3] Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films.[2][4] Mohanlal's contributions to the Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry.[5][6][7] The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001,[8] and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours,[9] for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army.[10][11]
Mohanlal made his acting debut at age 18 in the Malayalam film Thiranottam in 1978, but the film was delayed in its release for 25 years due to censorship issues. His screen debut was in the 1980 romance film Manjil Virinja Pookkal, in which he played the antagonist.[12][13] He continued to do villainous roles and rose to secondary lead roles in the following years. By the mid-1980s, he established himself as a bankable leading actor and attained stardom after starring in several successful films in 1986; the crime drama Rajavinte Makan released that year heightened his stardom.[12] Mohanlal prefers to work in Malayalam films, but he has also appeared in some Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Some of his best known non-Malayalam films include the Tamil political drama Iruvar (1997), the Hindi crime drama Company (2002) and the Telugu film Janatha Garage (2016).[14][15]
Mohanlal has won five National Film Awards—two Best Actor, a Special Jury Mention and a Special Jury Award for acting, and an award for Best Feature Film (as producer), also nine Kerala State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards South and numerous other accolades. He received honorary doctorates from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in 2010[16] and the University of Calicut in 2018.[17]
Mohanlal is also known for his philanthropic endeavours. He founded the ViswaSanthi Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization that was started to create and deliver high-impact and focused programs to the underprivileged sections of society in the areas of Healthcare and Education.[18][19][20]
Main articles: Mohanlal filmography and list of songs recorded
Mohanlal's career spans four decades, during which he has acted in over 340 films and produced or co-produced films under three production houses—Casino Films, Cheers Films, and Pranavam Arts International. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, his acting credits also include some Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Mohanlal has occasionally acted in some professional plays and has also appeared in a few short films. He has recorded over 31 songs, most of them for the films in which he has acted. In television, Mohanlal hosted the reality show the first season of Bigg Boss (2018) on Asianet, the second season of Bigg Boss (2020), the third season of Bigg Boss (2021) and the fourth season of Bigg Boss (2022).
Mohanlal receiving Padma Bhushan from Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Mohanlal
In a career spanning near forty years, Mohanlal has received numerous accolades and honours both competitive and honorary, among them are five National Film Awards, nine Kerala State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards South. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour in 2001 and Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in 2019,[9] for his contributions to the arts. He was conferred with honorary Doctor of Letters by Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in 2010,[16][183] and the University of Calicut in 2018.[184]
In 2008, while filming for Kurukshetra, in which he plays an Indian Army officer, Mohanlal expressed his interest to join the Territorial Army of India. But he could not, as men above the age of 42 are not eligible to join the volunteer force.[185] On 9 July 2008, he was formally inducted to the Territorial Army in the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel by then Army Chief Deepak Kapoor. He is the first actor to receive the honour.[186][187] In 2012, he was bestowed with an honorary title of Black belt in Taekwondo from Kukkiwon, South Korea. He is the first South Indian actor to be honoured with the title.[27][188]