TWO-MEN INDUSTRY: Mammootty (top) and Mohanlal

Quick, name the stars in the six most commercially successful Malayalam films released in the first six months of 2006? The answer is Mohanlal and Mammootty. If you think Malayalam cinema is a two-men industry, you are bang on target. That the industry is dependent on Mammootty and Mohanlal is evident from statistics: in an industry that produces 50 to 60 films a year and is worth around Rs 150 crore, nearly 70 per cent of the box office gross comes from the dozen-odd movies that feature the two superstars.

The story was similar in 2005 when of the 61 films released in Malayalam, 11 featured the two actors and Mammootty’s Rajamanickam turned out to be a blockbuster, grossing Rs 10 crore from theatrical rights alone. Four out of five super hits of the year had them in the lead.

The popularity of the actors knows no state boundaries either. At the World Malayalam Conference held recently, Mammootty and Mohanlal were voted the best known Malayalee faces in the world. Their films sell for between Rs 45 lakh and Rs 70 lakh in overseas markets like the Gulf, the US and Europe. In the domestic market, mainly Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, pockets in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi and UP, their films are screened in regular theatres. More recently, Mohanlal’s Udayananu Tharam raked in Rs 50 lakh outside Kerala. Now Shringar Films is marketing his films in the Mumbai territory.

According to film experts, their films open in 40 to 50 theatres and they are marketed aggressively through television channels and via local cable TV services. Their loyal fan clubs ensure a decent opening and the rest depends purely on the merit of the movie.

In south India, on an average, every 15 kilometre from Kaliyikkavila bordering Tamil Nadu to Kasaragod in north Kerala near Mangalore (a distance of approximately 630 km), a theatre screens a new release. This means that some of the old B class centres have become releasing outlets. For instance, a film buff in Tiruvella in Kerala can now watch a new film at Changanacherry or at Pathanamthitta, both a few kilometres away in Kerala. This means that the volume of business has also increased and more release outlets have helped the stars to totally dominate the trade.

Theatres in Kerala bet huge advances on films featuring Mohanlal and Mammootty. If a producer signs up Mammootty or Mohanlal along with a commercially viable director, he can raise the entire amount of the production cost from the advances given by theatre owners.

What makes the two stars Mohanlal, 45, and Mammootty, 54, tick? For one, the superstars play larger-than-life characters with distinctive styles. Their dialogues, costumes, dance and fight sequences and, above all, punch lines are repeated in households across Kerala.

Needless to say, today Malayalam cinema is akin to the 1970s and 1980s Amitabh Bachchan era. The hero is a one-man entertainment troupe providing action, comedy, romance and drama. The message is loud and clear: Malayalam cinema is superstar driven and is totally male dominated.

Mammootty has been dubbed “the definition of what it is to be a real movie star” by an international critic. He undoubtedly has a lot to be happy about in a career spanning 25 years and over 300 films. Says Mammootty, “My audience is very crucial for the success of my films. I have also been able to win over younger people (15-30 years) who ensure that I get a fantastic opening for my films.”

Mammootty says that he is walking a thin dividing line, as Kerala audiences, unlike those in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, are literate, sceptical and sensitive and expect some realism in films.

Mammootty attributes his hold over the box office to the fact that he caters to the fancies of this mass audience. He makes sure that women aren’t embarrassed watching his films by not having any double entendre, crude gags or blood and gore in his films. And his image as a family man with no whiff of scandal has endeared him to female audiences.

The secret of Mohanlal’s success, on the contrary, is the larger-than-life character that he’s played in innumerable films. Half a dozen products sell purely on his brand equity mainly because of his legion of fans. For the common man, Lal ettan is a doting son, loving husband, caring elder brother and a super hero.

Nor does he agree that he has fallen into an image trap as many argue. His Rasathantram, Thanmatra and Vadumkkumnathan (all released this year) stand testimony to the fact that he is an actor who is willing to experiment even now. Says writer-director and actor Sreenivasan who has been responsible for creating so many memorable characters for Mohanlal: “He is one of the most flexible actors on the Indian screen. For the viewers most of their dreams are fulfiled through the characters that Mohanlal plays so convincingly. That’s made him click with audiences.”

But the flipside to the phenomenal mass appeal of Mohanlal and Mammootty is the fact that not many young actors are coming up in Malayalee cinema. Critics say that these two heavyweights sabotage the careers of up and coming actors to make sure that they don’t lose their stranglehold on the Malayalam film industry. But others put the blame on the audience. As Suresh Shenoy of Ernakulam’s leading exhibitor, Shenoy Entertainment, points out, “Our audience is unwilling to encourage young heroes and continues to prefer Mohanlal and Mammootty.”

The other actors in the race for superstardom such as Dileep, Suresh and Gopi seem to be no match for the two stars. They do not have the kind of reach or penetration of the superstars. As long as the superstars continue to reel out hits and have audience support, they will continue to lord it over Malayalam cinema.