Reasons why Mammootty is perfect in playing historical character roles

Malayalam actor Mammootty is unarguably one of the legendary actors of our times. The immense dedication and hard work that he puts in while breathing life into the characters that he plays is just magnificent and spellbinding. From playing several hero characters in films such as ‘Valliettan’ to playing a perfect antagonist character in the film ‘Vidheyan’, actor Mammootty has helmed various character roles with varieties of character traits. There are also several historical film characters that he did in his acting career that are iconic such as ‘Chandu Chekavar’, ‘Pazhassiraja’, etc. Here let’s look at some of the reasons why actor Mammootty is perfect for helming historical characters in movies.

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M.T Vasudevan Nair is one of the legendary writers in the Malayalam film industry and is also the writer of ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’ and ‘Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja’. He is one of the writers who doesn’t like to compromise on his scripts and is very strict at the casting process for the films that he penned scripts for. In a public function, he spilled beans on why he cast actor Mammootty for playing the roles of the characters ‘Chandu Chekavar’ and ‘Pazhassi Raja’ in his films. He said that Mammootty was not cast due to any pressure from the director or by merely looking at the star value of the actor. It was while penning down the script for both historical films, it was only actor Mammootty’s figure that matched with the character sketch of both ‘Chandu Chekavar’ and ‘Pazhassi Raja’. He also added by saying that currently, the only actor who can play historical characters flawlessly is Mammootty.

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Ok, not all the historical characters need to have a perfect physique, but there is something of a common notion held by the audience through folk tales, poems, and paintings that most of the historical characters are having a perfect physique and have something like an alpha male trait. Complying by this notion, who else is perfect, none other than Mammootty to helm such roles. The actor also has a strict diet and says no to alcohol or any kind of unhealthy habits that could harm his physique.

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This is one of the most iconic dialogues in the Malayalam film industry and the dialogue delivery was done none other than by Mammootty in the film ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’, where he played the role of the legendary ‘Chandu Chekavar’. Most of the dialogues in historical movies or writings have a dramatic touch to them and in order to deliver them flawlessly, you need to add a bit of drama into it with the ability to deliver the dialogues effectively. The dialogue delivery style of actor Mammootty with strong voice modulation and control is what makes Mammootty’s dialogues truly memorable.

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Yes, the historical film ‘Mamangam’ which was released in the year 2019 mostly had negative reviews as the storyline and pacing were completely out of place with a shoddy making style. But you can't deny the fact that actor Mammootty, who played the role of Chandroth Valiya Panicker, was executed with near perfection. No one will dare to do such a heroic historical figure at this age and then there is Mammootty who really nailed the role by even playing a transgender role in the film. Just imagine an actor in his 70’s playing a lead role in a historical movie with such perfection.

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In a public function, Jagathy opened up about the perfect character traits which are necessary for an actor to play historical characters. He said, “ An actor who is able to perfectly portray ‘Navarasas such as ‘Veeryam’, ‘Roudram’ etc can only do justice to historical roles and by looking at that factor Shri Mammootty is the only actor who can play iconic historical characters in movies.”. The words of actor Jagathy make real sense when you look at how flawlessly actor Mammootty portrays these emotions while playing historical roles in films.

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Most of the heroic historical figures are depicted in folklores and stories as perfect alpha males. coming to presenting them to the general audience especially through the medium of cinema. It’s a huge task for the filmmaker to get a perfect character to play the role. Mammootty, being an actor who has all such qualities is an immediate option for filmmakers to cast him.

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There is something unique about Mammootty’s eyes when he delivers strong and impactful dialogues or when he presents an emotional scene. You could feel that he is an actor born for close-up shots, with just one tight frame of his eyes, you can feel the emotion delivered by the actor. And this could be seen in the ending shot of the film Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.

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