Mammootty's best works outside Mollywood

With the news of Mammootty's upcoming Telugu movie 'Yatra', based on the life of former Andhra Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy, we look at some of the actor's greatest performances outside M-town. Mammootty's powerful voice and confident persona have always given the actor an added advantage to portray characters of authority, especially that of politicians. Many of his notable characters outside Mollywood had political nuances and the actor has done justice to each of them in style.

'Arasiyal', meaning Politics, is a Tamil movie directed by RK Selvamani in 1997 with Mammootty in the lead role. The actor plays the role of Chandrasekhar, an honest collector. This was Mammootty's seventh movie in Tamil, after the success of 'Thalapathi' and 'Makkal Atchi'. 'Arasiyal' with a plot entwining politics, family and revenge, received mixed reviews from the audience, however, Mammootty's performance was well noted by critics and fans.

The biopic 'Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar', based on the principal architect of the Indian constitution, is among Mammootty's career-best performances. The movie directed by Jabbar Patel was originally made in English and was then dubbed into regional languages. Mammootty played the lead role of Dr Ambedkar in the movie and won National award for his performance. A film of national importance that visualized the struggles of Ambedkar while formulating the Indian constitution, called for a joint production by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Government of Maharashtra. The production was managed by the government-owned National Film Development Corporation of India. Mammooty's transformation to Dr Ambedkar was mind-blowing as the actor detailed the character to perfection.

One of the biggest hits in Tamil film industry, 'Thalapathy', with its star-studded cast was enough to break any box office record. Mammootty shared the screen with some of the iconic actors from the film industry including Rajinikanth, Arvind Swamy, Amrish Puri, Srividya, Shobhana, Bhanupriya, Geetha and Manoj K Jayan. 'Thalapathy', directed by Mani Ratnam in 1991, was roughly based on the loyal friendship between Karna and Duryodhana from the epic Mahabharatha. Mammootty's performance as Devaraj, a powerful and feared person in society who runs a parallel government, according to critics was a step above other actors. While enacting the emotional variations of the character and dialogue modulation, Mammootty was exceptional.

'Kandukondain Kandukondain', a complex love story that explores the intricacy of relationships, directed by Rajiv Menon in 2000 revealed a new dimension of Mammootty's acting. Unlike the strong and powerful roles he did in Tamil, the actor portrays a loving warmhearted ex-military personnel named Bala. The movie also starred Ajith, Aishwarya Rai, Tabu and Abbas in major roles with AR Rahman coming onboard to produce the soundtrack. Mammooty's flexibility and range as an actor again revelled in the movie as he enacted some very dramatic and emotionally turbulent scenes with perfection.

'Makkal Atchi', meaning People's Rule is a Tamil movie directed by RK Selvamani with Mammootty in the lead. This political theme movie was made in 1995 after the grand success of 'Thalapathy'. Mammootty played the role of Sethupathi, a common man who accidentally finds a stash of money which he then uses to become a politician. A commercial success, the movie made Mammootty a fan-favourite in Tamil Nadu. The movie was dubbed to Malayalam titled 'Ente Naadu' following its commercial success in Tamil Nadu.