With CBI 5: The Brain, Mammootty hits a rare feat in the record books, here's how

The megastar of the Malayalam film industry, Mammootty is a three-time National Award winner and one of the country's top actors. His three National Awards are notable in that one of them is for a film that is bilingual in English and Hindi, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, which no other actor in Indian cinema has achieved. His tremendous list of superhits in languages other than his mother tongue, such as Tamil and Telugu, makes his journey all the more remarkable, as only a few Indian performers have done so.

Now, the great actor is the pride of Indian cinema, having accomplished a feat unmatched in the history of the medium. For CBI: The Brain, which will be released this summer, he will reprise his role as CBI Officer Sethurama Iyer for the fifth time in a record-breaking 35 years. Oru CBI Diarykurippu was the first film, released in 1988, and was followed by Jagratha (1989), Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004), Nerariyan CBI (2005), and currently, CBI 5: The Brain (2022).

What makes the achievement even more impressive is that the actor not only plays the same character but also portrays the same age in each of the films, which is unheard of in filmmaking.

K. Madhu, the director, and SN Swamy, the writer, were also permanent fixtures in all five iterations. 

SN Swamy, the man who conceived the brilliant CBI officer character 35 years ago, spoke about Mammootty's achievement, stating that when they see the megastar in films, it's astonishing; there's no difference between 1988 and now, and they can't even see the difference if they compare images. It's as if time has stopped and they have seen a lot of actors play James Bond over the years, but Mammootty just keeps going. Swamy shared that his self-discipline and way of life are inspiring.

CBI: The Brain, produced by Swargachitra, follows Mammootty's biggest blockbuster, Bheeshma Parvam, which was recently released, and his forthcoming OTT Premiere debut in Puzhu.