PremiumMohanlal trumps Mammootty, Prithviraj Sukumaran to become most popular Malayalam star of December 2022: Survey
Despite having one of his worst years, Mohanlal still reigned supreme in popularity as per a recent report from a media consulting firm
Last Updated: 10.59 AM, Jan 13, 2023
In spite of Mohanlal having no big theatrical hits in 2022, the superstar seems to have closed the year, with his crown as the most popular Malayalam actor intact, according to the latest report from media consulting firm Ormax.
The firm had published its list of Stars India Loves for December 2022 and the Malayalam actors list was led by Mohanlal, Mammootty, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Fahadh Faasil and Tovino Thomas. A surprise exclusion was Dulquer Salmaan. But this could be attributed to the Kurup star having no big Malayalam releases in 2022, though he tasted success in Telugu with Sita Ramam and Hindi with the R Balki thriller Chup.
Mohanlal’s two theatrical releases – B Unnikrishnan’s Aaraattu and Vysakh’s Monster – didn’t quite meet the box office expectations and had faced flak from critics and fans. His OTT releases, Bro Daddy and 12th Man, however, fared better. The actor also reprised his role as the host of Bigg Boss Malayalam last year.
Megastar Mammootty, who was reigning king of the Mollywood box office last year, with three big hits in Bheeshmaparvam, Rorschach and CBI 5: The Brain, also made his critically-acclaimed OTT debut with Sony LIV’s Puzhu last year.
Prithviraj, who had a decent year with two big hits in Kaduva and Jana Gana Mana, and profitable outings in Kaapa and Gold, with a flop in Theerpu, stood third in the list. Fahadh had only one release in Malayalam last year – Malayankunju, but the popularity of his roles in Telugu and Tamil films, Pushpa and Vikram, respectively, have only increased the stock of the actor.
Tovino, who was among the most disruptive stars of the year, with films such as Dear Friend, Vaashi and the superhit Thallumaala, rounded out the top 5 most popular Malayalam stars of December 2022.
As per Ormax website, the methodology for choosing the list is based on asking “regular theatre-going audience to name their top 2 favourite male actors” and the sample size per language is more than 10,000 chosen from a diverse group based in metros, mini-metros and small towns.