Mohanlal Movies 2016 : Hit Flop Overview
If there is one man from Malayalam film industry who ticked all the boxes correctly in this year, it should be Mohanlal. The actor was going through a rough patch after delivering the all time blockbuster Drishyam in 2013. Eventhough he had a few hits, the actor was not part of any quality movies that could showcase his skills as an actor. But come this year, and Mohanlal rose back in sensational style delivering 4 back to back successes including two 100 crore movies.
Manamantha/Vismayam
Mohanlal started the year with his Telugu debut as a hero, Manamantha directed by Chandrasekhar Yeleti. The movie was made as a multlingual in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil. Malayalam version of the movie was titled as Vismayam. It was a family entertainer where Mohanlal was seen as a common man, the kind of role Mohanlal stayed away post Drishyam. Vismayam was a critically acclaimed movie but could not reap a big commercial success. The movie was declared an average grosser by the Telugu media.
Janatha Garage
Mohanlal’s second release of the year was again a Telugu movie. Janatha Garage, directed by Kortala Siva was also dubbed and released in Malayalam. Mohanlal played the lead role alongside young superstar Jr NTR. The movie was a mass entertainer where Mohanlal played a do-gooder Sathyam, who runs a garage where people knock the doors for any help. The actor gave a restrained but terrific performance that was rarely seen in Telugu movies. Mohanlal won over the Telugu audience and opened the market for Malayalam movies in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana states. Janatha Garage became a massive blockbuster and successfully entered the 100 crore club. It ended up as the biggest blockbuster in Telugu cinema this year and finds it’s name among the highest grossing Telugu movies of all time.
Oppam
Oppam marked the return of the all time favourite combo Priyadarshan and Mohanlal. The movie was released for the Onam season, a few days after the release of Janatha Garage. Oppam was a crime thriller in which Mohanlal played the character Jayaraman, a blind man. This was the first time in his career where he played a full fledged character of a blind man. Oppam had all the Mohanlal-Priyadarshan moments, pleasant songs, occasional humour and strong content. Mohanlal once again did not fail to impress the audience with his performance. Oppam crossed the 50 crore mark and is currently the second highest grossing Malayalam movie.
Pulimurugan
Mohanlal’s next release was the highly anticipated Pulimurugan, which hit the screens for Pooja holidays. Directed by Vysakh, Pulimurugan was in the cine-news columns ever since it’s announcement. Staying true to the hype, Pulimurugan set a new record for the opening day figures in Mollywood. But that was merely a sample for what was to follow. The next few weeks witnessed an unprecedented rush for a Malayalam movie. The movie started shattering every single box office record. In no time, Pulimurugan became the fastest to 25, 30 and 50 crore marks. Pulimurugan soon became the highest grossing Malayalam movie beating Drishyam.
Whole of the industry was waiting for the movie to enter the elite 100 crore club. And the wait did not last longer as Pulimurugan became the first movie from Mollywood to touch the coveted mark. It is still continuing the glorious run in theatres even after touching the 150 crore mark from almost 3 months of its release. Mohanlal played the title character in this action packed entertainer written by Udhayakrishna. Mohanlal’s extraordinary performance backed up by Peter Hein’s action choreography and the VFX sequences involving the tigers were the major plus points of the movie.
Pulimurugan was dubbed and released in Telugu as Manyam Puli on December 2nd. The Telugu version also opened to great numbers in the box office and was declared a superhit.
Mohanlal’s upcoming movie, Munthirivallikalal Thalirkkumbol was initially scheduled to release for this Christmas season, but got postponed to next year due to the ongoing strike between the theatre owners and film producers association.
