Being Mohanlal: Kerala's pride

Steeped in tradition and culturally rich district of Ottapalam in God's Own Country, Kerala is often the natural backdrop for movies. People here are used to seeing the stars drop by.

But when it's Mohanlal, it's time to stop and stare. The cast and crew of the Malayalam film Kirtichakra are putting the finishing touches.

The film is based on director Major Ravi Chandra's true-life tale of an army officer posted in Kashmir. And as soon as Mohanlal came on board, the film found backers.

"Mohanlal is a family actor, he does many roles in drama, suspense thrillers. He acts in all types of movies," says a lady, who's a great Mohanlal fan.

"In most films, his characters are strong, I've liked him since childhood. My whole family likes him,” says his another fan.

Mohanlal has played every conceivable role that Malayalam cinema has thrown at him and in the past 26 years, it has thrown quite a few.

For the Commerce graduate from Tiruvanthapuram whose acting career started by chance, movies have allowed him to be every man. And if some of his films have been routine and run-of-the-mill, others have become milestones in the history of Malayalam cinema.

"I am a huge fan of Mohanlal primarily because I grew up watching his movies and secondly because eveytime I saw his movies, it brought a smile to my face. I loved the effortless way he played the roles. I've never seen an actor who plays anything so effortlessly whether it's playing a policeman or an underworld don or a Kathakali dancer, " says film journalist and writer Suresh Nair.

"He is one of the actors who has won four National awards. Also I don' think I've ever seen someone who is a superstar and at the same time known as an actor. He is one exception I feel," says filmmaker Priyadarshan.

We are in Ottapalam, in the ruins of a old match factory where Mohanlal is shooting for his latest movie Kirtichakra.

Anuradha SenGupta: Mohanlal, why did you decide to take up this film, because I believe you just heard the narration which went over two hours and then you said yes.

Mohanlal: He (director Major Ravi Chandra) said you are doing the kind of role which I was doing in the Army. So I said yes and we have a nice team like Major Ravi, the cameraman and the rest of the people who are working with us. And I think we have done justice to the story. We shot the film in Srinagar and after many years, shooting is happening there.

Anuradha SenGupta: In fact, I was just going to ask you, you are shooting with a director who was a Major in the Indian Army, who was on the hit-list with terrorists in Srinagar. What was like shooting with him in Srinagar?

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Mohanlal: See we don't know much about the army and we don't know what's happening is Srinagar. So, when we landed there, only then we slowly came to know the kind of respect we must give to the Indian army. The kind of work they are doing there and we had lot of restrictions like not in the process of shooting but like we have to take someone when we are going out. And we had protection without our knowledge. They looked after us very well, without which we couldn't have completed the film. We shot in some villages where terrorist activities were happening. But the kind of work they do is amazing. And I feel every proud to be a Major, though it's in a film.

Anuradha SenGupta: You have said that you don't tend to really research or prepare for a role, you tend to be instinctive about these things. Now, when it comes to a film on the Indian army and its role and the personal story of an Indian army officer in Kashmir, it's a complex issue, isn't it?

Mohanlal: Well, this is happening in Kashmir, but it could happen anywhere. It's a universal thing. More than an army-based story, it's a story of love. It's like the respect an officer gives to his buddy, to his subordinate. So it's more than an action film, it's the story of love and respect. So, there's no need of research for this film. Because you are not going to research for one week or one month of what they are doing. But we have some real shots. Like real weapons and more into the correct timing of an action. So that kind of innovations are there, so other kind of preparations are not needed.

Anuradha SenGupta: Did you have to get fitter to play an army Major? You know my point is from what I've read and heard about you on how you approach your work is not the physicality of the role really, it's more about getting into the head of the character, is that how you approach it?

Mohanlal: It is true, normally I don not do much exercise it's not an excuse but we don't get time. You need a passion for that but, for this film, for the last three or four months, I was doing exercise. I am having a trainer. I used to play before, but not on a continuous basis. I am not a disciplined man when exercise is concerned. So for this film, I have done that. In some other films like Vanaprashnam about Kathakali, for that I did little bit of training of Kathakali. But you can't learn Kathakali in just few months before the film. It takes years, so it's more than a homework or understanding. I believe in happenings, it's an unknown energy that's helping us you know. So, it’s that kind of attitude I having towards each and every film. So preparations are happenings unknowingly. The lifetime of an actor or the span is between action and cut. So that time you are a different personality, that's the time when you are making lot of preparations unknowingly. Or just before that, when your hearing starts, a kind of preparation or a chemical reaction is happening in your body which you don't know. That you call the God.

Anuradha SenGupta: While the rest of India may have missed his movies, in Kerala, Mohanlal movies release almost every week. Though many of his movies have been dubbed into other languages like Tamil, Kannada and Telegu, the actor has chosen to stay in home-turf preferring to work with friends and familiar people.

But Hindi films stars like Urmila and Tabu have acted with him. And Aishwarya Rai even made her debut opposite him.

Anuradha SenGupta: You were explaining to me very lucidly, what happens to you between the time the director calls action and the director says cut. I want you to elaborate a little more than that, for the people who don't have the experience.

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Mohanlal: What I think is that kind of action between the time and space is, you can call that as a kind of meditation. It's a transformation. It's a form of higher meditation, you are transforming into other personality. It's not really happening. That's a myth. That's a kind of meditation happening. The thing is in normal life, you don't talk like that, you don't act like that, you don’t behave like that. The kind of emotions you are showing in your normal life it's not there. It's a transformation; you are transforming your personality as other person. So that's the time when the film actor leaves. It's a very strange thing in the films, because when you are watching films, they are not live, they are all dead people, they don't breathe. So, we are giving a kind of soul to them and it's a make belief and we should make the audience think that, 'Oh that's real, he is acting, he is speaking, he is fighting, he is singing. So that kind of soul we must give.

Anuradha SenGupta: Are you a religious man?

Mohanlal: It is not about the religion. What's religion? I believe religion is a kind of discipline. I told you I'm not a disciplined man.

Anuradha SenGupta: When it comes to exercising but not when it comes to your art.

Mohanlal: I forcefully don't commit any thing. I cannot say I am 100 per cent disciplined towards my profession, let it happen. I don't try to make things happen in my life, let it happen without my knowledge. So it will happen in my films and acting also. That is why I told you, I don't prepare for things.

Anuradha SenGupta: You know I was speaking to the cinematographer of Company and he was saying how in-between shots when lighting was going on, he would come to tell you that sir why don't you sit inside or why don't you sit in the makeup room or whatever is available to the actors and you said, "No this is my office, let me get used to this space."

Mohanlal: It is not forcefully, maybe that time I behaved like that because even we can use some property, we could use some. When it's take one, you are doing something, and again they are saying take two, now your brain knows what you are going to do. What are the dialogues that you are going to repeat? So to break that you are going to need properties or some kind of awareness about the office or about the space you are using. It is registered in the brain. So if something goes wrong, the entire system will give a wrong notion to you, to your acting. People say you are preparing. But to be very frank, I am not preparing but prepare unknowingly. It can be an external energy, giving me that kind of strength; we call as God or whatever. They call it masters on the celestial planes are helping you. It is possible, I had done some Sanskrit plays, but I don't know Sanskrit, for two hours of the play. You can by heart it but if something goes wrong you can't compensate it with any other language. So that is God. That is energy.

Anuradha SenGupta: When you did Company, a lot of people, the rest of India, if you were to think the Hindi film audience as the rest if India, felt that finally we'll get to experience Mohanlal. After that you didn't do anything. Why is that?

Mohanlal: Company was an irresistible role for me. After that I had some Hindi film offers but I should feel you know that I must stop acting in Malayalam films and go and act in a Hindi film. Even in Company, the way he narrated me the story, I asked him, why, why do you want me. And he gave me the reasons. It was a very interesting character and wants that kind of dialogue and that kind of presentation, that kind of diction. So there's a purpose, that character was a South Indian, a commissioner of police, he was a professor. And a very interesting thing about it, when you know the language, but you are not fluent and when you speak in that language it's more menacing and it gives more fear. So that kind of slang the character in Company had used. And definitely that was a good role.

Anuradha SenGupta: It was a great role.

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Anuradha SenGupta: As an actor, why would not the need to have more and more and more people enjoy your craft. Why is that not an irresistible lure?

Mohanlal: Oh that is why I am doing (films) in Malayalam. This is my language; I have a command in my language, when I present my language. Hindi means, you should have a command on the language. You should have a fluency and you should know the slangs, the idioms, everything. Here I can do that, even if the film is not good, they (audience) will say okay next film. But there you cannot do a mistake.

Anuradha SenGupta: Is that why you didn’t take the other offers that came?

Mohanlal: Well, it can be one of the reasons. Like he (Ram Gopal Varma) again called me for the remake of Sholay.

Anuradha SenGupta: Are you doing the remake of Sholay.

Mohanlal: Yes, I said I'll do, because I trust my directors, and it is their duty to look after all the actors. So, in some cases, or in some directors, sometime you'll have a miscalculation, it can happen. There are films like that; there are directors like that. But to hold an actor to make him act, to make a film is a great thing. It's again a creation. So I trust my directors. Nowadays, if I don't have trust in my directors, I don't act.

Anuradha SenGupta: Have you seen Ramesh Sippy's Sholay?

Mohanlal: Oh many times.

Anuradha SenGupta: I believe you are going to be doing a role similar to the one what Sanjeev Kumar did. Am I right?

Mohanlal: I don't know the story line. They are changing it or what. It's not going to be in Chambal Ghat forest.

Anuradha SenGupta: Which incidentally was in Karnataka.

Mohanlal: Yeah. They shot in Karnataka, yes.

Anuradha SenGupta: Mohanlal has come along way from the time his friends sent his photographs to Navodyay productions that was looking for fresh actors. Today he is a successful producer who also funds films that don't work with audiences but takes cinema to the realm of art.

Anuradha SenGupta: We mentioned the limitations that language puts on us in India. We’ve seen in the past, on several occasions the Kannada film industry trying to be protectionist, they try and say you know Tamil films, Malayalam films, Hollywood films and Hindi films should be released a few months later so that Kannada films get a chance and an audience. What do you think - is that the way to protect languages and culture? And I don't mean just specifically.

Mohanlal: See, I made a film called Kaala Pani, so I was very keen to get artists from all over India. Like Prabhu from Tamil Nadu, Amrish Puri and we've lot of actors. So we should do movies like that. I had done some Kannada films, few Telgu films, Tamil films. But the thing is that, it's their problem, the state's problem.

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Anuradha SenGupta: But as an artist, what do you think? I mean to say is, how do you protect?

Mohanlal: It is releasing, Hindi films are releasing in Bangalore or in Karnataka, Malayalam films are releasing.

Anuradha SenGupta: You've mentioned that you have done some Telegu films. Tamil films you have done only Iruvra or have you done any other?

Mohanlal: Some of my films were dubbed in Tamil. Then I did a film for Nasser called Popcorn, which was not a box-office film.

Anuradha SenGupta: But you are very fluent and comfortable in Tamil, isn't it?

Mohanlal: When it comes to films, I can speak Tamil or I can speak Hindi or I can speak Kannada. But when it comes to film-language, you have to by heart it. You have to have the fluency because it is not from your heart, it is not on impulse. It is written by somebody and written for a particular situation. So in that thing you have to be a master. You have to be very fluent. It will take time. If they want to protect their films, then they can do that by coming out with good films.

Anuradha SenGupta: You don't like single-malt whiskey. All over India, there are people who know you and you have a cult following. You know Mohanlal is like God it comes to acting. But most people are not able to relate to you.

Mohanlal: I love to be like that. See I don't demand things, I cannot say I don't have desires but I don't go after a role, I want to do that, I want to achieve that. This is my 26th year in films and nearing 300 films. So, now what should I desire for? Let it come.

Anuradha SenGupta: What does an actor like you desire? You have mainstream commercial success and popularity. You have great acclaim in terms of critical acclaim and awards. You have produced and financed films that you believe in. What does an actor like you desire?

Mohanlal: That's why I am saying, I don't have desires.

Anuradha SenGupta: How can you not have desires?

Mohanlal: Promise, trust me. Because see I'll tell you, I made a film called Vanaprasann, that film was taken to the Cannes, I got National award for best actor and another award. I got two awards, best producer also. I was the producer. So it is a happening, never in my life I thought that I'll potray a Kathakali dancer. And I have done all the roles, even the lady as Putana. So it's happening. You can't go like, okay I want to make a film on Kathakali, and I want to make this film on cancer. Can you do a film like that? You cannot. So, some people should come, it (idea) should develop in someone 's brain and it has to transform into the paper then into celluloid. It's a long process.

Anuradha SenGupta: It can't be that there's a goal towards which you are working. You are working instinctively with what you believe in at the moment and then it might reach a certain goal.

Mohanlal: Let happen. Like when I was receiving my national award for another film, then the National school of Drama (NSD) people, his name was Ram Gopal Bajaj asked me if I could do a play for NSD School. It's like Greek to me; I don't know anything about NSD. I said yes and asked what I could do for them. He said they are having around 80 plays and to do a play for them. And it so happened I had done a Sanskrit play. And it was the only Sanskrit play. Normally nobody does Sanskrit plays. And I had twice on the same day. In Delhi, and in two places in Mumbai also. So again it's a happening without my knowledge. And I do not know Sanskrit and two hours of Sanskrit means it's not an easy thing.

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Anuradha SenGupta: As usual, you are understating things, not a easy thing, you could have said it's a very hard and tough thing.

Mohanlal: Yeah, it's not an easy thing. But it's an easy thing when it comes after the completion of the play. Then it becomes an easy thing for me. That's why I said it's not an easy thing for me.

Anuradha SenGupta: A father of two, Mohanlal has several other business interests from a film and TV company to an animation studio to sea-food exports to packaged food and restaurants. This actor has an equally busy life off celluloid.

Anuradha SenGupta: What do you follow besides your craft and acting?

Mohanlal: I like acting, and that is my profession, otherwise I like everything which is good for me. So I can't pinpoint this is my passion. I love music, I love art, I can't say I have a very good collection. I am a custodian of some of the beautiful paintings in the world. I collect paintings; I have a very good collection of antiques. Those are some of my passion besides acting.

Anuradha SenGupta: As Mohanlal gets back to work and we step back from his world, one can’t help but notice the irony. While one of it's most popular actors and a proud Malayali remains a well-kept secret, Kerala may be set to use Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai as brand ambassadors.