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Mohanlal Viswanathan, known simply as Mohanlal, was born on May 21, 1960, according to Wikipedia. Working mainly in Malayalam cinema, with films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada too, he has acted in more than 400 films over four decades.
His first film, Thiranottam (1978), shot when he was 18, was held up for 25 years by censorship issues, so his screen debut came as the antagonist in the 1980 romance Manjil Virinja Pookkal. He moved from villains to second leads, and by the mid-1980s he was a bankable leading man; the 1986 crime drama Rajavinte Makan sealed his stardom. Outside Malayalam, his best-known films include Iruvar (1997), Company (2002) and Janatha Garage (2016).
Drishyam (2013) became an all-time Malayalam blockbuster, and he returned for Drishyam 2 in 2021. He played a crime syndicate boss in Prithviraj Sukumaran's Lucifer (2019) and reprised the role in L2: Empuraan (2025), the year's highest-grossing Malayalam film, before winning more praise as a taxi driver in Thudarum.
He received the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2019, and in 2009 he became the first Indian actor given the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. CNN named him one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema." In 2025 he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honor, at the 71st National Film Awards.
He returns as Mathew in Rajinikanth's Jailer 2, Variety reported. Read Jailer 2 box office, and visit the Vidya Balan hub.
Sources: Wikipedia
Our newest Mohanlal story, from October 19, 2026, is "Rajinikanth's 'Jailer 2' Hits No. 2 Worldwide, With a Cameo That Was 40 Years in the Making": Only 'Street Fighter' earned more around the world this weekend. Here are the numbers, the record it tied, the Hrithik Roshan reunion fans are talking about and how the ending sets up a third film.
More than 400 (Wikipedia).
In 2025, at the 71st National Film Awards (Wikipedia).
Mathew, the role he played in Jailer (2023), per Variety (our story).
