A game of comparisons in Mollywood

Ram Gopal Verma’s tweet comparing the acting skills of Mammootty and Dulquer sparked off a flutter on social media

April 26, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:48 am IST

KOCHI, KERALA, 18/01/2014: Actor Mammootty at a function in Kochi. Photo:Thulasi Kakkat

KOCHI, KERALA, 18/01/2014: Actor Mammootty at a function in Kochi. Photo:Thulasi Kakkat

What actor Mammootty felt about a tweet by director Ram Gopal Verma comparing his acting credentials with that of his son Dulquer Salman is not yet known.

The maverick filmmaker went to the extent of asking the Mollywood superstar to take acting lessons from his son after being floored by the impressive show by the youngster in Mani Ratnam’s latest film ,OKKanmani .

While the comment sparked off quite a flutter in the social media with Mammootty fans not losing any time in resorting to brickbats targeting the director, it has been overlooked that similar views were expressed by many others before though not as harshly worded.

The late actor Thilakan was one of the first to openly state that the son was better than the father while acting with Dulquer in filmmaker Anwar Rasheed’s movie Ustaad Hotel . Thilakan had words of praise for the youngster’s “natural and realistic” acting.

Even before Dulquer had hit the acting trail, another comparison had remained Malayali’s favourite pastime — that of the acting prowess of Mohanlal and Mammootty. In a televised interview senior director Faazil, who had delivered many a hit film with Mammootty in the lead, had described Mohanlal as a more natural and talented actor. He even went on to say that Mammootty was aware of his limitations much better than anyone else.

Actor Prithviraj had also voted as Mohanlal as the best among the two during the course of a rapid-fire question-answer session in a television interview. Actor-turned-politician Ganesh Kumar had also commented on the limitations of Mammootty, the actor, while describing Mohanlal as flexible with a natural style.

It’s all about the hype

Getting pre-release hype has turned crucial for Mollywood, where majority of the movies tank at the box-office every month. Filmmaker Anil Radhakrishnan Menon knows it better than anyone else. He seems to be emerging a master of generating a lot of interest among the audience even before a film goes on the floor. Anil had proved his credentials in not only coming up with popular movies but also giving it titles such as North 24 Katham and Saptmashree Thaskaraha . His latest venture is no different. Titled Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi , the film has a multi-star cast similar to his previous flick Saptmashree Thaskaraha .

G. Krishnakumar

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.