There Is No Meaning in Saying Mohanlal Has Lost His Talent: Bhadran

Veteran director Bhadran's cult classic Spadikam (1995) was re-released on February 9 in the digitally remastered 4k format amidst much fanfare. The action drama, which featured Mohanlal as the macho hooligan “Aadu Thotta”, is reportedly doing wonders at the box office. This re-release comes at a time when the actor is facing a rough patch in his career, with his last few theatrical releases opening to poor box-office numbers, drawing criticism. In a conversation with Anupriya, director Bhadran posits that one should not write off the actor in Mohanlal. “There is no difference between the Mohanlal of yesteryears and the Mohanlal now. There is no meaning in saying that Mohanlal has lost his talent and his acting is bad,” says Bhadran.

However, the director asserts that one can certainly question the kind of films that Mohanlal has chosen to be a part of in recent times. “Mohanlal can 100% reject stories that reach him. So, why he is not doing that is the question.” He further added that the actor was not doing the kind of work that befits his talent. “Things will be different if one approaches Mohanlal with a great subject and a role that suits him. If you give an elephant something huge to pull, its entire body language and anatomy changes. And if you give something small to the same elephant? That is what’s happening here. So, one should not declare that Mohanlal is getting old and has lost his talent.”

Looking at Mohanlal’s career trajectory, he talks about how Mohanlal’s slump has coincided with an exciting career phase of his contemporary, Mammootty, who has been delivering stellar work in films like Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023) and Rorschach (2022). “The films Mammootty is choosing these days are brilliant. When one focuses on the content, one will check whether the content is there in the film and if it has anything worth performing, and Mammootty might have this kind of outlook while picking a film”, notes the director. 

Bhadran reiterates that the inability of Mohanlal to deliver on the big screen in recent times has more to do with the content and should not define the audience’s perception of him as an actor. He says, “Take KJ Yesudas, for instance. He is a singer who is widely loved, respected, and accepted by the nation. Some of his songs are milestones while a few other works are very ordinary. But we don’t look down upon the Yesudas who sang ordinary songs. The issue was with the songs that reached him, the content of the songs or the composition of those songs. That is why one has to give good quality content.”