Ten Life Lessons from Mammootty
By: The Written Word
Tags: Birthday, Actors, Mammootty, Malayalam, Kerala

Mammootty

If Jayan, the hero of the masses and our Batman/Superman/Ironman-all-rolled-into-one, hadn’t met his untimely death, plunging from a helicopter, maybe the story of Mammootty, as we know him today, might have been different.

No, there is no direct link between the two but for a series of coincidences that led one thing to the other.

Director PG Viswambharan had planned the film Sphodanam with Jayan, and as the film’s opening voice-over says, he went ahead with the project after his death. Sukumaran and Soman stepped in on the lead (perhaps one of them taking the place of Jayan).

That might have led to the space for an actor to play Thankappan, a significant supporting character — and fate brought in Mammootty.

But when I watched Sphodanam in one of those ‘olatakies’ of yore, with a packed audience, he was named, oddly enough, Sajin.

The young lawyer from Vaikam, who practiced in Majeri, already had four films to his credit though — two, in unnamed roles (Anubhavangal Palichakal and Kaalachakram), and two, noteworthy (Vilkanundu Swapnangal and Mela). Better sense prevailed for ‘Sajin’ as he opted to stay as what we know him now — Mammootty.

Described as the mega-star, super-star and every possible epithet that actors get in Indian cinema, Mammootty’s remarkable ascend to stardom indeed kicked off in the very same year Sphodanam released, as a Vishu entertainer in 1981.

The name of his next film, directed by Sreekumaran Thampi, in which he happily played second fiddle to Ratheesh (who stepped in to fill the shoes of Jayan) could have been the perfect phrase to describe Mammootty’s rise and rise. The film Munnettam (watched this time in one of the first air-conditioned cinemas in our small town, with its crab-trick of conning women) hardly showcased the powerhouse of an actor Mammootty is. That took his next film, Trishna, by IV Sasi, and written by the formidable MT Vasudevan Nair.

That visual of Mammootty with his violin, a shawl neatly tucked around his neck lingers, and only years later, in rewatching the film, did the complexities of the character he played unravel.

One after the other, Mammootty was soon doing roles that I wanted to watch: Oothikachiya Ponnu, Ahimsa and before long, that seminal flick of a Malayalam cinema, Yavanika, which positioned Mammootty as the man born to play police officers. The diversity of his ouvre, the breadth of characters his played, his swashbuckling avatars on screen that defeat his age, the down-to-earth roles he played that endeared and moved us, the compelling characters he brought to life — well, you can write volumes on Mammootty, the actor.

And as we look back now (on the his 70th birthday on Sept. 7, 2021), here are ten lessons we can take home from the actor’s life — as an actor and individual.

1. Commit to your passion (with a vengeance): Panaparambil Ismail’s son Muhammad Kutty would very well have been a successful lawyer now; maybe he might even have retired as a Chief Justice. But the young lawyer, practising in Manjeri bar, opted to pursue what he was truly passionate about: Acting. At a time when getting on-screen space, let alone mouth a dialogue, or be a star was next to impossible without abundant luck, pluck and connections, Mammootty persevered. Fate perhaps put him in touch with the right people at the right time — but that would not have been possible without the diehard passion that he has to his first-love, acting, to this day.

2. Be a risk-taker: When you are passionate about a vocation, perhaps by default, you also acquire a streak of risk-taking in your journey. Look at Mammootty’s ouvre of early films. He has played an extensive breadth of characters — from side-kicks to villains to heroes, working with mainstream to independent to total unknowns.

From Padayottam, one of his early flicks.

As his peer Mohanlal observed, perhaps it might not have been the time to be choosy; the two could very well have picked every role that came their way. Contrast it with the choosiness and carefully curated career graphs of today’s actors — and you will know that what drove Mammootty and Mohanlal was a genuine passion to act.

3. Value relationships; be loyal (even when friends fail you); There is no better illustration of an actor in Malayalam cinema who has valued relationships than Mammootty — often at the risk of his own career (a path that Mohanlal with his brigade of friends seldcom had to take). Even at a time when Mammootty was being written off, after one flop after another, culminating arguably with PG Viswambharan’s Aval Kathirunnu Avanum in 1986 (before he would bounce back and claim stardom with the 1987 Joshy thriller New Delhi), Mammootty has consistently stood by people whom he believed he owed his career. Despite the debacles that his trusted directors (also the people who made him) delivered, Mammootty gave it all to them — and do so, to this day.

4. Work on your weaknesses: Mammootty has always admitted to his weaknesses. He was (is) a bad dancer and many of his roles are clones of earlier characters. Where other stars might have glossed over that with sheer star power, Mammootty resolved to work on them. From Maane Madhurakarimbe in Pinnilavu to Johnnie Walker’s Shanthamee Rathriyil to finally matching steps with the towering Rajnikanth in Thalapathi, Mammootty showed to us that he tries.

Mammotty dances to the tune of Ilayaraja in Thalapathi

As for repetitive roles, he once told a gathering of students, how he tries hard to make every character different as much as possible through mannerisms and body language. And he was referring to how he moulded his character in The Truth to be different from other IPS roles he had already played.

5. Laugh at Yourself (once in a while): In an era when fans take umbrage even for petty mimicking of their favourite heroes, Mammootty has never shied away from laughing at himself (once in a while). He has time and again laughed at what others perceive as his idiosyncrasies, the classic case being Azhagiya Ravanan; Sreenivasan’s deadpan humour played out perfectly because Mammootty was game.

Mammootty in Azhagiya Ravanan

6. Push yourself, always: Mammootty has taken challenging roles in his career working with masters, taking home awards, because he has consistently pushed himself. From tonsuring his head for Balu Mahendra’s Yathra (which old-timers recall was mocked by the promotions team of Mohanlal’s Pathamudayam in a newspaper ad) to playing buck-teethed in Sooryamanasam to working to grueling schedules (including fracturing his leg for Sphodanam), Mammootty gives it all. Perhaps he took a cue from PG Viswambharan who once said in an interview: “Mammootty is a dynamic actor; Mohanlal is a versatile actor and Shankar is a lucky actor.” With his hard work, Mammootty brought versatility and luck to his dynamism.

7. Be yourself — no matter what: What you see is what you get with Mammootty. And here is an anecdote that comes from personal experience. Once, Mammootty was to meet a group of assembled journalists, who had only the night before clamoured behind Amitabh Bachchan, almost ignoring the Malayalam actor, at a major film festival. When mentioned to him about the press corps (mostly Malayalis) who had come to meet him, he said: “Honestly, what do they have to ask me? I didn’t see any of them yesterday. They were all after Bachchan. But no problem, I will meet them.” And the very moment the media burst in, he told the same words to them — unpretentious, straight to the point and no words minced. He speaks his mind. As they say, when you speak the truth, you need remember nothing.

8. Let your work speak for you: Mammootty is reticent to speak about his films — time and again, he has told that he would have the film speak for himself. Contrast it with the shameless self-promotion by the young brigade, and you get the gist.

9. Spot talent and keep them with you: Few other actors in Malayalam cinema have opened doors wholeheartedly to rank newcomers with such generosity as Mammootty. As he himself has said, young people come with fresh ideas, and they help reinvent you. Do not work in closed circles; guard your relationships, of course, but also make room to build more. You will be wiser for it. Mammootty has done that religiously — not just with new directors, even with media; which is why he was one of the first to be interviewed and featured in Filmfare by veteran film writer Khalid Mohammed himself, when south Indian actors were out of bound for the mag.

10. Revel in your integrity: In a career spanning several decades, Mammootty’s presence in gossip columns is zilch. He has closely guarded his family, sparingly talks of them (even about his son Dulquer Salman) in public and keeps his gravitas unblemished. That can come only from a man with absolute integrity and innocence.

Lessons from Mammootty’s life can spill over manifold more. But the bottomline is that, here is a man — more than a star or actor — who reinforces that while inborn talent is a gift alright, the true course of your success is defined by your own grit, hard work and determination.

Happy birthday to the pride of Malayalam.

ENDS