Mohanlal Vishwanathan Nair known as Mohanlal born on 21 May 1960, is an Indian actor and producer well known for his versatile and natural acting in Indian cinema. Mohanlal was born to a Hindu Nair family from the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala to father Vishwanathan Nair and mother Shanthakumari. He has an elder brother, Pyarelal while his father was a legal secretary in the Kerala government.
Mohanlal lives with his family in Thevara Kochi. He is married to Suchitra, daughter of Tamil film producer K. Balaji in the year 1988. The couple is blessed with two children Pranav and Vismaya. He owns a house at Ooty, a villa in Arabian Ranches and a flat in Bhurji Khalifa at Dubai. Mohanlal is a self-described foodie. He also enjoys melodious music. He is also a strong believer in spirituality and destiny. He likes to read Osho, J. Krishnamurti, Aurobindo and Ramana Maharashi.
Mohanlal was raised in his father’s home at Mudavanmugal in Trivandrum. Mohanlal studied at Model School, Trivandrum and graduated with a degree in Commerce from the Mahatma Gandhi College in Trivandrum. As a student, he acted in various plays at school and college and in 1972, was selected as the best actor in his school competition against students from the tenth grade while he was still in the sixth grade. While attending college, Mohanlal made his first film debut in Thiranottam. He started working in the film field from September 4, 1978.
In the year 1980, Mohanlal was cast in the lead role in the movie Manjil Virinja Pookal. The movie set a platform for the superstar as it was a box office hit at that time. After the release of this movie, Mohanlal had a remarkable journey in his career where there was no looking back. The late 1980’s and early 1990’s is considered as the golden age in Mohanlal’s acting career.
Mohanlal was selectd as the Goodwill Ambassador of Kerala State Athletics by the Kerala State Athletics Association. He is also the Goodwill Ambassador of AIDS awareness campaign by Kerala AIDS Control Society for which he acted in short fims and of Handloom textiles in Kerala. Other commercials also include Malabar Gold, LG, Nerolac, Original Choice Rum, Manapurram Finance, MCR Textiles, Oceanus constructions, Mohanlal’s Tastebuds, Vismaya’s Max Animation Academy, Hedge Equities and Pankaja Kasthuri.
Mohanlal has also started various business ventures related to film production and distribution, restaurants and packaged spices among others. He owns Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments, a Malayalam film distribution company and Vismaya Max, a film post-production studio and college for dubbing artists at Kinfra Film and Video Park, Trivandrum. He also produced movies under the banner Pranavam Arts. He owns a chain of restaurants. His other business ventures include Uni Royal Marine Exports and Jose Thomas Performing Arts Company, Kochi. He is an independent director of Clenergen India Private Limited. In the year 2009, Mohanlal along with Priyadarshan, tried to bid for an Indian Premier League cricket team based in Kochi, later they withdrew the bid on the failure of raising enough funds after a change in the rules was introduced.
In the year 2008, Mohan Lal was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of Army of India as an officer. In the year 2010, he was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kalady. Mohan Lal was also crowned with Padma Shri by the government in 2001. Mohan Lal has also won four national awards such as the Special Jury Award (Actor), two Best Actor awards, and the Best Film Producer award. Mohan Lal also won six Kerala State Film Awards for Best Actor. Later he has won many other awards and nominations. Mohan Lal also hold place in the Limca book of Records as People of the Year Award in 2009.
In 2008, Mohan Lal underwent 18 months of magician training under Gopinath Muthukad. He had planned to perform a stunt called Burning Illusion in Trivandrum, however this was later on cancelled due to allegations that it is a dangerous act.