Mohanlal was born in Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, as the son of Mr.Vishwanathan Nair, a lawyer and government employee and Mrs. Santhakumari on 21st May 1960. The family later shifted, to Mudavanmugal in Thiruvananthapuram, which was his maternal house. He has had a prolific career for four decades, playing in more than 300 films. In addition to Malayalam, he has also appeared in other regional Indian films.

Here are some interesting facts about Mohanlal.

1. He has received five National Film Awards: two Best Actor Awards, a Jury Special Mention and a Special Jury Award for his performance, as well as the Best Feature Award (as a Producer).

2. He also received nine Kerala State Film Awards Award, Filmfare Awards South and many other awards.

3. The Indian government awarded him Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour in 2001, and Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour in 2019, for his contribution to Indian cinema.

4. In 2009, he became the first and only actor to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel in the territorial army of India. He received an honorary doctorate from Sanskrit Sree Sankaracharya University in 2010 and from Calicut University in 2018.

5. In the year 2012, the World Taekwondo Headquarters situated at Seoul, South Korea, conferred Mohanlal with the honorary title of ‘black belt’ in Taekwondo. He is the first South actor to receive this honour and third Indian after Shah Rukh Khan and Mizoram Chief Minister, Lal Thanhawla.

6. In the year 2014, Mohanlal formed a band named Lalisom – The Lal Effect. This was a joint venture with music director Ratheesh Vegha. The first ever performance of the band was at the 2015 National Games of India.

7. In 1986, 34 films of Mohanlal were released. Of these, 25 films were clean hits at the Box Office.

8. The superstars of Malayalam, Mohanlal and Mammootty have acted in 55 films together. The two being cast together has always been a hit at the box office. Padayottam, their first film together is the only film wherein Mammootty played the character of Mohanlal’s father and even a character with negative shades.

9. Mohanlal is the only Mollywood actor whose films have been remade very frequently in Hindi. Best examples are Drishyam which was made as Drishyam starring Ajay Devgn, Boing Boing was remade as Garam Masala, Kriddam was remade as Gardish among many more.

10. Believe it or not, the first film that Lalettan signed was Thiranottam. It was supposed to have been released in 1978 and was to mark his debut. However, the film got stuck due to various concerns raised by the Censor board. It was finally released after 25 years, in 2013 and was telecast on Asianet – a Malayalam TV Channel.