Malayalam superstar Mammootty is delighted with the south Indian film industry’s clean sweep at the National Awards this year as the actor believes that southern cinema has more quality to offer.
Mammootty lauded the south Indian film industry for the “quantity and quality” of movies being churned out.
“We make better and more movies,” the three time national award winning actor told PTI.
Priyadarshan’s ‘Kanchivaram’ won the Best Film award at the 55th National awards while Tamil actor Prakash Raaj won the Best Actor award for his role in the same movie.
Legendary Malayalam filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan won the Best Director award for his movie ‘Naalu Pennungal’.
Mammootty, who has won the National Award for Best Actor for his performances in ‘Ambedkar’, ‘Ponthanmada’ and ‘Oru Vadakan Veeragadha’, is also happy that Malayalam films are venturing into the more commercial genre, shedding their decades-old style of depicting day-to-day issues.
The Malayalam superstar, who has carved a niche for himself in Tamil cinema with movies like ‘Thalapathy’, ‘Anandam’ and ‘Marumalarchi’, says he is keen to work in Tamil movies but his home commitments leave him little time to take up such projects.
“I have more commitments in Kerala (film world). But I am game for good roles and would like to feature in such films,” he says adding that he is currently working with actor Arjun in the Tamil film ‘Aruvadai’ (The Harvest).
Mammootty says Tamil films enjoyed good market in Kerala and called for more promotion of Malayalam films in Tamil Nadu.
Some Tamil films raked box-office collections in crores in Kerala though that was not the case with Malayalam movies in Tamil Nadu, he says.
Mammootty’s upcoming films include ‘Pazhassi Raja’, ‘Kerala Cafe’ (a script intertwining ten stories) and ‘Midnight Murder’.
‘Pazhassi Raja’, which tells the story of a warrior King of Kerala who revolted against the British well before the 1857 sepoy mutiny, has Mammootty in the lead role. It is slated for release on Gandhi Jayanthi.
The movie is directed by Hariharan and the script is by M.T. Vasudevan Nair, the duo that combined to make the blockbuster ‘Oru Vadakan Veeragadha’.
The film would throw light on the “atrocities” of the British and how people suffered at their hands, says Mammootty describing Pazhassi Raja as a “real warrior”.
The film would be released in five languages — Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and English.
