Padma Bhushan conferred on actor Mammootty

Four-and-a-half decades is a rather long period for an actor to be at the top of the game. Back in 1981, Mammootty had won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ahimsa. On Sunday, he was about to receive his ninth State award for his menacing act in Bramayugam (2024), when the news arrived about him being selected for the Padma Bhushan, awarded by the nation for “distinguished service of high order”. It became a fitting double honour for an actor counted among the greatest the country has produced.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the State government has over the past few years been recommending Mr. Mammootty’s name for the Padma Bhushan. “We are glad that he has finally been honoured with the Padma Bhushan this year. No other actor in Indian cinema has essayed the wide variety of roles that he has. Over the past four decades, he has won awards competing against actors from different generations,” he said.

After receiving the Best Actor award, Mr. Mammootty said that winning the award in an industry such as Malayalam which produces some of the films in the country is an honour.

Kamal Haasan’s post

Congratulating Mr. Mammootty on the Padma Bhushan, actor Kamal Haasan posted in X – “We haven’t acted together in any films. But from afar, we’ve been cherishing each other while directly critiquing one another, maintaining a close friendship for many years. As a Mammootty fan, my expectation is that my fans should also be his fans.”

Mr. Mammootty, who began as a junior artiste in K.S. Sethumadhavan’s Anubhavangal Palichakal (1971), had to struggle for chances for over a decade before he was cast as a solo hero in Munnettam (1981) and Thrishna (1981). In the decades that followed, he, along with Mohanlal, became the two pillars around which Malayalam cinema revolved, with a host of memorable performances in commercial and independent cinema.

Unlike many stars conscious of their image, Mr. Mammooty has over the years shown that he is not averse to portray characters with a cruel or even repulsive streak, be it in Vidheyan (1994) or Puzhu (2022). He has won three National Film Awards for Best Actor till date.