Mohanlal

Mohanlal Vishwanathan Nair known mononymously as Mohanlal is an Indian actor producer and singer who is well known for his versatile and natural acting in Indian cinema He made his acting debut in the unreleased movie Thiranottam 1978 which was followed by a role as the lead antagonist in his first release Manjil Virinja Pookkal in 1980 his onscreen debut Antagonistic parts in several movies followed before Mohanlal established himself as a lead actor playing a wide variety of character types in comedy and action films amongst others He was labelled a superstar of Malayalam cinema in 1986 after the success of Rajavinte Makan in which he played an underworld don Mohanlal became a film producer with the 1990 musical hit His Highness Abdullah and has also acted in a number of Tamil and Bollywood films Of these his notable roles were in Iruvar directed by Mani Ratnam and Company directed by Ram Gopal Varma As well as being an actor and producer Mohanlal also owns businesses involved in film distribution restaurants and packaged spices Mohanlal is regarded as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema and is a cultural icon in the Indian state of Kerala where he was elected its most popular individual in a 2006 online poll conducted by CNNIBN on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Keralas formation In 2001 the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri Indias fourthhighest civilian honour for his contributions to Indian cinema He has won four Indian National Film Awards two Best Actor Awards one Special Jury Award for acting and one Award for Best Film as producer along with six Kerala State Film Awards for Best Actor In 2009 he became the first actor to be given the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army of India and in 2010 received an honorary doctorate from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit Kerala