Mohanlal announces new film ‘Monster’

New Delhi: Malayalam star Mohanlal has announced a new film titled Monster to be directed by Vysakh. It will be produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas.

The actor, who was last seen in Drishyam 2, that released on Amazon Prime Video, was to make his acting debut in 1978 with the film Thiranottam, which was produced by him along with his few friends. Due to some issues with the censor board, however, the film was released 25 years later. In 1980, Mohanlal was cast as the lead antagonist in Manjil Virinja Pookkal – the directorial debut of Fazil which became a major success.

By 1983, he was credited with more than 25 feature films, most of them had him playing negative roles. Movies such as Ente Mohangal Poovaninju, Iniyengilum, Visa, Attakkalasham, Kaliyil Alpam Karyam and Sreekrishna Parunthu helped change his image. Remaining the face of the Malayali superstar for years, the actor was known for his likeable, family image in the 1990s.

In recent years, he has notched up hits such as Telugu action-drama Janatha Garage that made worldwide collections of Rs135 crore and director Priyadarshan’s Malayalam crime thriller Oppam that collected Rs65 crore worldwide. The latter would’ve remained the highest Malayalam grosser of the time when released in 2016 but the actor beat his own record with Pulimurugan, an action adventure that notched up Rs152 crore worldwide. It is currently one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.

Mohanlal’s next film Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham may have already won a bunch of national awards but is now slated for a theatrical release on 2 December. The historical war epic directed by Priyadarshan was originally scheduled for theatrical release on 26 March 2020, along with its dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.