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When willl Mammootty bounce back ?

Mammootty is having a lean period since 2012

I watched Mammootty’s Thappana last week. I had liked the couple of one-liners that appeared in the teasers that came out when the movie released but turns out those are the only good things in the entire movie. There is no story at all in the first half and Mammootty just wanders from place to place with the heroine. Then there is the song where Mammootty “dances” and a number of stunts where he just stays on ground , waves his hand here and there and the villains fly in air. Its difficult to understand why Mammootty does such movies and what he finds in these scripts.

Mammootty is going through a really bad phase – There has not been a single hit after Best Actor in December 2010. I don’t directly book for his movies after “the King and Commissioner” and now want to wait and see how the reviews turn out. Out of his 9 movies after Best Actor – all of them which are flops –  I have not watched ‘August 15‘, ‘Doubles‘,’The train‘ and ‘Jawan of Vellimala‘ because of what the people who watched them had to say. Venicile Vyapaari‘s first half is perhaps the only good thing from the rest of the 5 movies I watched.

So what has really gone wrong for Mammootty? The bad script selection is definitely one thing but one another big factor that stands out is Mammootty’s strange decision to continue play younger roles ( still in lot of movies he is the bachelor who is searching for a soul-mate) and to continue to do his dance and unbelievable stunts in every other movie – no matter if it is comedy, thriller or whichever genre. Today I happened to watch a song of his upcoming thriller movie – ‘Face to Face’ and there is again Mammootty dancing in this movie too.

Its really time that Mammootty starts taking a leaf from Mohanlal’s book. Look at Mohanlal’s last few movies and there is a definite intent to select the roles where he wants to act his age. In Snehaveedu, he played a man in his forties.In Grandmaster and Pranayam, he played men who are in their fifties or sixties. Even in Run Baby Run, Mohanlal did not have an issue showing his grey hair. There were also reports that Mohanlal would play Dulqar Salman’s father in next Priyadarshan movie. And what is Dulqar’s dad doing – playing chronic bachelor roles. Its almost sure that Mammootty is taking great care to get his son big directors and good scripts , I really wish he takes similar care for the scripts and characters of his movies too.


While all other superstars attained the superstar status in movies where they did a lot of action scenes (Mohanlal – Rajavinte Makan , SureshGopi- Ekalavyan), Mammootty attained the status in an action movie where he did not do a single stunt sequence – “New Delhi”. G..Krishnamoorthy was one of the powerful characters ever written in Malayalam Cinema and Mammootty’s impeccable performance made him a superstar and gave him a new lease of life when he was going through a phase of  failures.

Mammootty is one actor who played a lot of middle-aged characters in 1980’s in memorable movies like Kanamarayathu, Kariyilakattu pole when others like Rahman took care of the dances in the songs. So why do Mammootty do all these dances and stunts now years later – Is it because of the immense fan following and superstar image or is it because he finally want to make up for the time he lost in the 80’s playing serious matured roles.

Mammootty has this one amazing ability- when he cries on the screen or deliver those emotional dialogues, he can easily bring a lump to our throats and tears in eyes. I dont think that comes easily for any other actor and yes including Mohanlal .Even in mass movies like Hitler and Rajamanikyam, if Mammootty’s characters are still memorable among the audience ,its because the script writers had written enough emotional dialogues and scenes for Mammootty to get us spellbound to those characters. I haven’t seen any such impactful scenes in any of the Mammootty movies since Best Actor.


I really hope his next release ‘Face to Face’ clicks but from the first trailer and the song where he dances , there are chances that Mammooty may end up with another flop. From his first look of ‘Bavuttiyude namathil’ , it looks he is playing yet another talkative loyal servant like the ones he played in Loud Speaker and Rappakal . What I am really excited is about the reports that Mammootty is going to do the ‘New Delhi’ sequel.


New Delhi is one movie which brought Mammootty a big hit after a series of commercial failures in the 1980’s and which made him the superstar he is today. I think its a great idea to bring the memorable character G.K  back to screen but I really wish that Mammootty and the makers of the movie understand that Krishnamoorthy has a problem with one of his legs and so it would be a painful sight if we see Mammootty dance and do stunts in the New Delhi sequel too.

Its high time that Mammootty and his scriptwriters realize that what his fans and Malayalam Audience want is not his dance and stunts where the bad guys fly in air but the emotional and powerful scenes which gave us memorable characters like Madhavankutty,  Meledathu Raghavan Nair, G.K and Chanthu Chekavar. Lets hope Mammootty bounce back soon because all this time the talent getting wasted is of one of the greatest actors Indian Cinema has ever produced.